Notes at bottom, INCLUDING MY E-MAIL VIRUS-FROM-ME
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MAIL FROM ME! Thanks.
-Lianne (liannesen@aol.com)
http://Lianne_Sentar.tripod.com

*Blue Planet, White Moon*
Part 10

Rated PG-13 for violence, drama, and romance

	"Stay here." Steven, captain of the Moon Guard, 
poked his head in the doorway. Serenity looked up from
her desk in surprise, but he met her eyes only for a moment
before quickly shutting the door.
	She frowned. "What?" she asked as she stood. She
quickly ran to the door, tried it, saw it was unlocked, and
threw it open. She ran right into Steven's back as he
adjusted his sword belt.
	"Princess," he snapped, giving her a glare over
his shoulder. "What did I just say?"
	Serenity gripped his arm. "I won't stay if you don't
give me a reason to," she replied curtly. Steven had once
been a high authority figure to her, polite and distant and 
deserving of much respect, but in the months since he had
been assigned to her she had come to bicker with him 
like a resentful younger sister. She pulled on his sleeve.
"What's going on?"
	"Nothing. Go back inside."
	"Captain!" She gripped harder, anxiety causing her
heart to thud. Had something happened? Something with the
war?
	He quickly let out a breath. He turned to face her,
his pale eyes grave as he locked with her gaze. After a moment, 
he turned back around and finished adjusting his belt.
	"Fine." The look he sent her was fierce. "But *stay*
*behind* *me.* Don't wander off, and try not to say anything.
Let us handle everything."
	"Who's 'us?'" Serenity watched as he set off down the
hall without an answer. She ran up behind him, her tiny feet
slapping quickly against the marble floors to keep up with his 
huge strides. "Captain?" she asked again, but he shook his head
and only moved faster. Serenity shut her mouth and focused
on keeping speed.
	She could feel her heart quicken with her steps. Steven
only grew so uptight when dealing with the war. Since the attack
on the moon palace a week or so previous, the Guard captain
had been irritable, anxious, and even more protective than 
usual (which, beforehand, Serenity wouldn't have thought 
possible). The moon had received word shortly after the 
palace attack that things were stable back on Earth, the royal 
family was still in control, and more details would follow, 
but the message only seemed to put Queen Serenity and 
her advisors more on edge. When captain Steven wasn't 
guarding the princess' door, he was in meetings with her 
mother and other generals, or tending to the rescued 
Earthian children, whom, to Serenity's surprise, had been
under (non-hostile) lock and key for several days.
	Serenity swallowed. Hearing good news about the royal
family had put her heart to rest about Endymion, but her worry
was mounting regarding the moon's suspicious behavior. Why
were they so nervous? She stopped abruptly as Steven halted 
outside the transport room.
	"All right." He drew his sword and turned to her. His
fingers closed over her arm. "Stay with me. Don't run off 
and do anything foolish."
	Cold fear and hot excitement raced up Serenity's
spine. Earth. Something was coming from Earth. As Steven
pushed open the huge double doors with Serenity in his
grip, she suddenly remembered the corpses and spilled 
blood that had stained the marble floor but a week before.
Sudden worry of another attack clutched her, and, in a moment
of fear, she grabbed Steven's sleeve with both hands.
	"What's the *meaning* of this?"
	Serenity froze. There were more than a hundred moon 
soldiers in the huge transport room, and all of them, fully 
armored, aimed naked swords at the two-dozen Earth arrivals.
The king of the Earth stared at Queen Serenity in shock.
	The queen shook her head. She stood proudly behind
a single line of soldiers, her shoulders back and her eyes grave.
"Forgive us, Majesty," she said evenly. "We mean you no
disrespect. This is for the safety of our kingdom."
	Serenity's mouth opened, but no sound came out.
	*What?*
	The king of Earth narrowed his bloodshot eyes. 
"May I ask why my Earth procession is being treated as
an enemy?" he asked lowly. "We've come to update you on
the war and offer what we can to repair the damage done
by the Legions on your kingdom." His jaw visibly tightened. 
"What do you mean by this, Queen Serenity?"
	"Please, your Majesty." Serenity nearly jumped 
as Steven answered, his cool voice ringing clear. "This
is only a safety precaution. We think we have decent
reason to be cautious when the examination on our
slain Legion attackers was completed a few days ago.
Our results are positive that the Legions of Metallia
are all, without exception, Earthian."
	For a moment, silence reigned. One of the moon
soldier's swords barely trembled. At last Malachite stepped
forward from his place behind the king, exchanged a glance
with his ruler, and settled his cool ice gaze on the captain
of the Moon Guard.
	"Of course." Malachite bowed his head a touch,
though his eyes remained forward. "We understand you
and your kingdom's feelings completely. We came to
the same conclusions regarding the enemy but a few 
days ago ourselves, and suffice to say our surprise and
horror was as strong if not stronger than yours."
	Steven's expression didn't change. "Really."
	"Captain." Queen Serenity shot Steven a disappointed
look before turning to Malachite. She bowed her head 
at him. "Forgive us, General. We still have faith in the 
Earth kingdom, but the moon people are afraid and wish
to be set at ease with more security."
	"We'd be more than happy to give up our arms,
Queen Serenity."
	"Thank you for your understanding, General."
	Serenity started to shake. She had had no idea things
were so bad! All of her--and her mother's--fears of years
were suddenly crawling to life before her. The moon people,
who looked down on Earthians, were finally getting their
way: arrivals from Earth were being welcomed with aimed
weapons rather than open arms. The king of the Earth tightly 
stripped his sword and handed it to a small moon soldier.
	A loud thumping from behind made half the
room start. The small soldier immediately panicked and
jumped forward, his trembling sword at the king's throat;
a fierce glower from said king made the young man swallow
and slowly move back. The king of the Earth turned, looked
to the floor, and made a very odd, uncomfortable face.
	"Endymion."
	Serenity's heart froze. From the floor behind the king,
a toppled Endymion made a strange murmur and pushed 
himself from the floor; his arms gave, and his cheek banged 
hard against the marble. Zoycite and Jedite knelt by him and
helped him to his unsteady feet.
	Serenity's fingers dug into Steven's jacket. Her wide
eyes turned transparent. Endymion! The Earth procession 
had brought *Endymion* with them!
	Her brain swirled. Endymion! How long had it been? 
How many months had she dreamed of him? He was suddenly 
there, before her, his shoulders even wider than she remembered 
and his hair a touch longer. She had never imagined.... with all 
the problems with the war, she had never thought.... it was like
he had abruptly fallen out of her fantasies and into her
suddenly glorious life! Literally, the way he was rubbing 
his bruised cheek. What would she talk to him about?
A thousand questions and answers came flooding through
her, things she'd stored in her mind and heart for weeks
but hadn't been able to share with his absent presence. She 
wanted to talk about how she was growing, about her
mother, about her friends, about how Steven got on her
nerves but really wasn't so bad deep down and would
Endymion like to meet him? She wanted to talk to the
dark prince, hear about his family, his life, what he did
to try and forget the war and what she could do to help
that. Juices flooded through her system in a happy, 
churning river.
	Endymion! Endymion was *here*!
	Her feverishly female brain couldn't get the better
of her, though, as she suddenly felt Steven's muscles 
tighten beneath her grip. "Majesty," the captain asked,
loud enough for all to hear. "Is that your son?"
	The king turned back to Steven and nodded
stiffly. "I decided it's important for him to be here,"
he explained. "Things have been particularly hard lately."
	Steven's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What's wrong 
with him?"
	As if to emphasize the statement, Endymion 
suddenly slipped from his generals' arms and thonked
against the floor. As Zoycite and Jedite, this time
aided by Nephlite, tried to lift the prince again, Endymion
mumbled something about being fine and only needing
a bathroom while he weakly tried to slap the three
young men off.
	Serenity blinked. Come to think of it, what 
*was* wrong with him?
	Malachite handed his sword to a moon guard.
"The prince is drugged for the trip," he answered. 
"Forgive his behavior; the effects will wear off within 
the hour."
	"I thought the drugs rendered him unconscious,
General."
	"He's on a new one." Malachite's voice grew
a bit thinner each moment. "Is something wrong, Captain?"
	Steven didn't look suspicious. Honestly, Steven rarely
looked suspicious, since he was excellent at keeping his
head when things seemed to be different and potentially
dangerous. Yet the way he looked at Malachite, expressionless, 
calm, was clearly rubbing the Earth representatives the 
wrong way. Serenity wasn't sure if Steven meant that
or not.
	"We of the moon give your kingdom the
respect and admiration you deserve," Steven said
evenly. "We're only keeping the safety of our
people in mind during such turbulent times. Is
there a particular reason why your prince is on
a new--and wakeful--drug during this visit?"
	Nephlite, his fingers digging into Endymion's
side to keep the boy up, sent an equally 
expressionless glance back. "We've been gradually
decreasing his drugs since the first transport,"
he answered. "If he is to be king, he must
be able to transport with his body free of substances.
This happened to be the time when his drug was
changed to a newer one."
	Endymion slumped. Zoycite gritted his
teeth and heaved him up to stand straight.
	"May I ask," Steven continued, "why no
clear word was sent after your palace was attacked
a week previous? Why do you wait until now to have
a formal meeting?"
	*That* seemed to get the king. The tall man
clenched his fists and growled, lowly, quietly, deep
in his throat. Malachite glanced at the trembling 
king, then quickly answered, "Our palace and our
people were in shambles, Captain. Please understand,
we needed to piece together what we had before 
having a formal meeting with your kingdom."
	"Understood." Steven's voice grew louder.
"But you could have sent us a bit more word."
	"We weren't *ready* to, Captain, and we
apologize."
	"I see. And why did you decide not to 
bring the Earth queen with you?"
	The king lost it. His eyes burned as he
fully swung his body to face the calm Captain.
He clenched his fists so tightly they turned white.
"Stop this interrogation immediately!" he roared.
"We weren't ready for a meeting because we were
still dealing with the death of my wife!"
	Silence. Queen Serenity's eyes widened.
Steven's pale eyes briefly flickered to a lighter
shade. Princess Serenity covered her mouth.
	Endymion suddenly choked. He grabbed
an offered bag from Nephlite, fell to his knees, 
and vomited into it.
	Queen Serenity bit her teeth together and
looked away. While no one spoke, and the only
sounds were of Endymion's pitiful gagging, Steven's
shoulders grew slightly less stiff. A moment, and
his sword lowered to his side.
	"Forgive me, Majesty."
	Princess Serenity felt tears well in her eyes. She
knew Steven began sending orders to the other moon 
soldiers, she knew the Earth procession was giving up
weapons and then being given the utmost respect and
hospitality, she knew her mother walked to the Earth 
king and, with glassy eyes, offered her condolences.
Princess Serenity, however, was barely paying attention.
She was too busy looking at Endymion, on the floor 
between three generals, his back curved to her as 
he curled into his bag and shook like a child. She could 
hear his choking, his vomiting, and, in-between them, 
his sudden, quiet, drug-induced sobbing.
	Serenity bit her lip.

**************

	She waited the full hour as Malachite had instructed,
and even an extra eleven minutes. She cried a bit in that
time, for Endymion, for the people of Earth, for the
Earth queen she had been rather fond of, but she forced
herself to swallow her sobs and keep her cool. When 
she finally went to the palace infirmary, she was feeling
firm, and grave, and ready to see him. The moon guards
at the door seemed hesitant to let her in, but after a 
quiet talk between them, they nodded and allowed her
passage. She noticed they left the door open a crack behind
her.
	Serenity could hear her heart thud in her ears as 
she looked to the end of the large infirmary. It was like
the last time she had seen him--far at the end of the room,
on a pristine white bed, lay the dark prince. On the white
covers, against the white walls and windows and curtains,
he looked terribly out of place, and terribly beautiful.
Serenity swallowed and forced the color down from her
face. She couldn't afford such thoughts. It had been too
long since she'd seen him, and a war had occurred in the
time they'd been apart. The mental image of the blood and 
spilled organs in the transport room sent a chill down her
spine. What Endymion had seen, had dealt with, in the
past months had probably been far, far worse.
	He suddenly stirred. She didn't breathe as he slowly
pushed himself up, his long arms bending against the 
mattress and his midnight hair dangling into his eyes.
He slid his legs closer to himself and half sat against the
white headboard. He gripped his forehead and moaned.
	Serenity forced herself to breathe properly. His voice
was deeper than she remembered, his bangs longer and 
thicker. The fingers that pressed against his temples
were lean and strong.
	She couldn't wait any longer. She took a breath,
clenched her fists, and called, "Endymion?"
	He looked up abruptly. Even at their distance, she
could see his pupils trying to focus. "S-Serenity?" he
asked.
	Serenity felt her eyes water. She quickly pattered
over, nodding her head, and knelt at the side of his bed.
In an odd moment of boldness, she covered the large
hand on his bedside with her own. "Are you all right?"
she asked.
	He stared at her. His mouth was open a touch,
but he didn't say anything. The way his wide eyes 
absorbed her dumbly made her color and avert her
gaze. "Wh-what?" she breathed.
	"God ..." She stopped breathing as his long
fingers slowly slid up her cheek. His blistered palm
pressed against her face and slowly turned it back
to him. Her heart quivered, unbeating, in her chest
as he stared directly into her eyes.
	He could've done anything then. Anything. He
could've done anything and she wouldn't have been able 
to stop him. He could have leaned in to kiss her, he 
could have slid his hand down to her shoulder and 
pulled her close, and she would have been helpless
against it. She couldn't move as her breathing halted, 
her heart froze, her body tightened under that blistered 
touch. Every inch of her wanted more. Every inch of 
her wanted to move closer to that dull, huge, dark 
youth and place her hands on his wide shoulders.
	He pulled his hand away. Serenity 
felt a thousand muscles unclench as her
heart thudded back into action. She tried
to suck in oxygen as inconspicuously as 
possible. 
	"Wow." He smiled tiredly, but 
truly. "You're even more beautiful than before."
	Serenity felt a smile pull her lips tight.
Her vision blurred with tears. "I m-missed
you," she murmured.
	"I bet I missed you more." He took her
hand in both of his. His ocean eyes were lighter
now, like a sea in the soft morning light. "How 
have you been?"
	Serenity sniffed and shrugged. "Fine," she
answered shakily. "I'm ... I'm sorry about your
mother."
	Endymion closed his eyes for a moment.
When he at last opened them, they were glassy,
and his smile weaker. "Thank you," he said
quietly. "She's in a better place."
	Silence. Serenity swallowed and suddenly
shook her head, rising to her feet. "Can I get
you something?" she asked. "I'm sorry, you 
probably want food or a drink or--"
	His hands tightened over hers. "No."
He tugged at her gently. "Please. Just stay here
with me, ok?"
	Serenity blushed. Slowly, she went back 
to her knees. 
	Silence again. After all the weeks of 
thinking of him, all the weeks of planning out
perfect conversations in her head and practicing
them as she lay in bed at night, she had nothing
to say. Even when a thought did come to her,
she looked back up at Endymion to see him staring 
at her. She felt her throat close up and her face get 
hot at that. She wasn't ... used to him staring at
her like that.
	She cleared her throat and blinked hard. She
*had* to get them talking. "So," she began, awkwardly.
"How's your father?"
	Endymion's stare broke for a moment. He
glanced aside. "As well as he can be," he answered
unreadably. "Mother is gone and more than a hundred 
were killed in the palace. Father's still in the front line,
too, and we're losing more ground by the day ..."
	He trailed off. He looked to the floor a moment,
then shook his head. "I don't wanna think about it," he 
muttered darkly. "Can we talk about something else?"
	Serenity paled. "I'm sorry," she stuttered. "God, 
of course, you came to get away from all that. We can
talk about whatever you want."
	He looked up. Serenity blushed when he began
staring at her in that odd, unnerving way again. She 
averted her gaze. Why did he keep doing that? She knew 
he often looked at her when they were together; on the 
times he had visited, she had often noticed out of the corner 
of her eye his curious, or even (to her great embarrassment) 
admiring glances, but this was different. He didn't change
his gaze when she turned to him, he didn't blush when
he thought he'd been caught. He stared at her. Into her
eyes with his hands cupped over hers and his ocean gaze....
	....anxious.
	"Serenity?"
	Serenity nearly jumped when he abruptly spoke.
"Y-yes?" she blurted.
	She didn't have time to regain herself as he suddenly
moved close. She froze as his head titled and he slid his 
lips right up to her ear.
	"I couldn't stop thinking about you," he whispered.
	Serenity couldn't breathe. He was so close. *So*
close. One of his wide shoulders was barely touching hers,
and his breath in her ear was warm. Like a magnet, she 
could feel her body straining against the gap between them.
She wanted to move closer. She wanted to slide her arms
around his waist and pull his wide torso against hers. Every 
last moral fiber she had in her screamed against the sudden 
fierceness of her young, frightening, unexpected desire
for the dark prince.
	"Endymion," she breathed, her voice shaking. 
Juices flooded through her and made her shake. 
"Wh-wh-what are you saying?"
	His hands tightened over hers. His voice was soft. 
"Do you think ..." He paused, tried again. "Do you think 
we might--"
	"PRINCESS Serenity."
	Serenity froze. Endymion jerked back from her and 
turned. Serenity twisted her head in the same direction, 
then felt her heart leap into her throat.
	Steven stood in the doorway.
	Serenity went deathly pale. As the captain of the 
Moon Guard walked stiffly across the length of the room, 
she stumbled to her feet and held out her hands.
	"Captain," she blurted. "I-I'm sorry, we didn't hear 
you. I don't want you to be alarmed, Endymion and I just 
haven't seen each other in--"
	The look he sent her made the excuses die in her 
throat. Steven walked right up to the bedside, stopped,
and glared unreadably at Endymion with his pale Moon
eyes.
	Endymion's eyebrows creased a touch, but only a 
touch. His expression was carefully blank. "Captain Steven," 
he greeted. "Right?"
	"Please don't call me that," Steven answered
evenly.
	Serenity's jaw dropped. "Captain!" she exclaimed.
"Prince Endymion is heir to the kingdom of--"
	"It's all right." Endymion held up a hand to her,
and she trailed off. The young prince kept up Steven's
stare. "I'm sorry, Captain."
	Steven said nothing.
	Serenity's heart tightened fearfully. She was suddenly
terribly scared of the quiet captain who traveled by her side
and slept outside her door. She knew Steven was
protective, and, as a result solely of that, would probably
be edgy when she wanted to spend a substantial amount
of time with Endymion. But the way he had treated the
Earthian procession in the transport room, and the
way his voice had been when he'd said the Legions of
Metallia were Earthian.... every sick fear she had of the 
moon people's hate for Earthians made a pit in the
bottom of her stomach. Did Steven hate Earthians, too?
What.... what would he do to Endymion if he did?
	She barely kept herself from clutching Steven's
arm.
	Endymion finally looked away. Steven stared at
him a moment longer, then turned to Serenity whilst
taking her wrist. "I need to talk to you," he said. "And
Endymion has been summoned by general Malachite."
	Serenity swallowed. She and Endymion locked
their eyes a moment, then she nodded. "All right,"
she said at last. "T-take care, Prince Endymion."
	"You, too."
	Steven escorted Serenity out the door. She 
wanted to say more to Endymion, she wanted to tell
him how happy she was to see him, how much she
wanted him to stay on the moon with her for as long
as he could, but Steven's grip on her wrist was like iron. 
She glanced back at the prince, once, but saw he was
looking at the floor with his thick bangs hanging over 
his dark ocean eyes.
	She bit her lip. Doom. She could feel it again.
And not just from her fears of the moon and Steven
and the war--from the fear that whatever Endymion had 
tried to tell her, whatever he had wanted the two of
them to do, he might never get the chance to ask her again.

To be continued....

-IF YOU EVER RECEIVED A BLANK E-MAIL 
FROM ME WITH AN ATTACHMENT FROM ANY 
OF MY E-MAIL ADDRESSES, DON'T DOWNLOAD 
OR SAVE IT TO YOUR COMPUTER BY ANY MEANS! 
I rarely send attachments, but if I ever send an attachment 
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saying exactly what the attachment is. Otherwise you may 
be getting a virus (there was either a hacker or a virus 
(or both) in my accounts causing trouble the past month or 
two ...). I think I've solved the problem by now, but it's an 
important thing for all of you to know, anyway.
	So anyway, this fic is really starting to get to the
good stuff now, but it's far from over. Part 11 will be up 
sometime in August, unfortunately, since I have a thousand
other things to do before going to Otakon in a few weeks
and have NO time to be writing more fic parts. I'll be a guest
at Otakon this year--come see me, I want to meet you all! I'll
be updating my page every week or so before the convention,
with details regarding it and site updates, so please visit my
webpage frequently throughout July! See my Updates page
(http://Lianne_Sentar.tripod.com/updates.html) for more
details. Next page update is July 12th. See you then!
-Lianne (liannesen@aol.com)
http://Lianne_Sentar.tripod.com		
*Sailor Moon and all its characters copyright © Naoko 
Takeuchi/Kodansha Ltd./Toei Animation, Co., Ltd. This 
story part copyright © Lianne Sentar, June 2002.