Serena
Chapter 4- My Story
 

        "Mama, why must I go play with this earth boy?  I like Mina and Lita just fine." I whined to my mother as she did up my dress.  "Because, Serena, you are the Princess of the Moon Kingdom.  And you need to get to know the Earth royalty as much as I do.  Besides, you will have fun.  Just think of him as a new friend.  Now I know you will be nice to him, and be that little princess I taught you to be.  Make him feel welcome.  You know how you felt when you were new."
        Mother was, of course, right.  I would treat him nicely.  I did remember what it was like on my first day.
        When I met Darien he was just like me on my first day.  Off in a corner crying. I went over to him and kissed him to make him feel better.  He just yelled something about cooties and walked away.  Well, at least I could tell Mama I tried.  I spent the rest of my time playing tag with Lita and Mina, my best friend.  Soon Micah joined the game and knocked all of us over.  That was the end of that.
        Mother raised me the best she could.  As far back as I could remember, she always made time to read me stories before bed and tucked me in after rocking me in her rocking chair.  It must have been hard for her, having the responsibilities of the whole universe on her shoulders.  But she never showed it.  She was always kind and gentle and loving towards me.
        I suppose she got rid of a lot of her work load by dividing it up between the members of her court and council (a.k.a. the rulers of the other planets.)  She and I would take long walks in the flower gardens and remark on how beautiful they were.  We would go for late night swims in the fountains and walks along the palace balconies.  Yes, Mother always had time for me, no matter what.
        When I was five, I found the greatest love of my life... ice skating. Princesses Mercury, Neptune, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter invited me to go with them to the rinks on Pluto.  I took to the ice like I had been doing it for years.  I went on to be one of the best ice skaters in the kingdom.  Mother signed me up for lessons the next week.  I was a natural.  I loved it.
        The night after my first lesson I got home hoping to tell Mother all about it. But when I came to her room, she was not there.  I went around the palace calling her name.  One of the servants heard me and came in to see if she could help me.  I told her I was looking for my mama.  The servant said that Mother had had to go to Earth on urgent business.  Something having to do with Darien.  She took me to Aurora, my mother's friend and she said to put me on a ship and to send me to Earth at once.
        When I arrived on Earth, I soon learned that Darien was missing.  They questioned around at the time of his disappearance with my mother's help.  See, my mother had the power of telepathy, so when people were questioned she could easily tell if they were lying or being truthful.  It was through this line of questioning that Darien's parents discovered that a woman named Natalie Wildman had been abusing him.  It was then deduced that Darien probably ran away to escape this torture.  They questioned her further to see if she knew where Darien might have gone.  However, she truly had no idea where he had gotten off to.  She was executed the following morning.
        Darien's mother took it the hardest.  She blamed herself for what happened because Darien had apparently come to her, telling her of the abuse.  She therefore felt responsible for Darien's disappearance.  She wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep, and locked herself in her room for close to a year. She had her meals brought to her, that is when she was eating.  Meanwhile they conducted an Earth-wide search for Darien.  They even investigated a ship that crash-landed
on the Moon, but found no sign of Darien.  After four years, the search was called off and he was pronounced dead.  It was a pity.  He was my friend and I missed him terribly.
        When I was six, I began to be coached on the ways to use my powers.  No other royalty starts training until they are ten because their power is not as great as mine.  Because my power is so strong, it develops in my body faster.  Thus I needed to learn to control it, or else I could have done some serious damage. By the age of eleven, I had mastered telepathy and telekinesis (that means moving objects with my mind).  I also learned how to disable attackers with a thought and how to hit them with a surge of energy that I could produce at will. My next step was to start the mastery of the silver crystal.
        The Silver Crystal was the basis of how our hierarchy worked.  Since the royalty of the Moon were the only people who could use the full power of the crystal, it was quickly decided that they would be the supreme rulers of the kingdom.  As a result the hierarchy went like this.  First there was my mother, the Supreme Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom, Daughter of Calliope and Ambrose.  Then came me, Princess Serena of the Moon Kingdom.  I would not come into the position of second in command until age eighteen, but I was the most guarded and most powerful child alive, thanks to my mother, who was very protective of me.  It was said that as powerful as my mother was, I would one day exceed even her power ten fold.  Next came the Moon Court.  The most influential members were of course the kings and queens of the other planets, followed by their sons and daughters, who would one day be their predecessors. Venus carried a little extra weight for my mother had married the now Queen of Venus's brother, Delian.  Delian had died in battle.  The next people of the Court included the ambassadors of the planets.  These were people who were, for lack of a better explanation, the right hands of the kings, queens, and their children.  They were above the delegates who basically carried out the rulings of the royalty, but still had their say in what went on and gave reports back to the Court on how particular ideas and projects had worked.
          My mother had been the strongest ruler so far.  She seemed to grow in power with each passing year.  I suppose she was the strongest because she had ruled the longest.  Mother was well over five hundred years of age, but her physical appearance reflected a woman of twenty-two.  All of the royalty was like this. The only way for a king or queen to die was to be killed or to voluntarily end their life.
        I was mature for my age.  Most royalty turns out that way.  When I was thirteen, it was decided that I should be engaged to marry Micah of Saturn.  I was not pleased with this choice.  He had never gotten along with me and he was much too big and violent.  He had such a temper that I was scared to death of him despite the fact that I could easily win a fight with him using my powers.  However, I did not think that I should try anything of the sort.  After all, he was five years my senior and I did not think it wise to challenge someone with that much more training.
        I did not inform my Mother of my feelings because I knew that she desired the marriage to work.  I did not wish to disappoint her.
        The day we were presented to each other was the worst day of my life.  I was fourteen, and had not seen him since I was nine.  We were left alone in a room together so we could 'get to know each other better'.  The only problem was he wanted to get to know ALL of me better, which he was not the least bit discreet about.  It started like...
        "It is a pleasure to see you again, lovely Princess."  He bowed.
        "The pleasure is all mine, Prince Micah."  Yeah, right.  I curtsied.  Micah was a very attractive man.  He had dusty blonde hair in a mushroom cut, broad shoulders, a seemingly firm stomach and strong arms.  His legs were too long and lanky though.  And I did not care for his gray eyes.
        He crossed the room to a couch and sat down.  He studied me for moment.  I felt my body tensed as he did so, wondering what his expression meant.  I could have found out in a split second by reading his mind but I had been taught not to read other's thoughts unless they knew I was.  Then he patted the pillow next to him.  "Come and make yourself more comfortable.  Shall I pour you a drink?" he said reaching for a tall bottle of cider.
        Reluctantly I crossed the room.  I quickly realized his intentions were not pure ones.  "Do you not think it is a little inappropriate for me, a young lady, to be sitting on a couch with you, a young man, in room with no one else in it?"
        He looked up at me shocked.  Then I saw his face twist in such a way that I could not breathe.  He had become so cold that I felt like I was looking evil itself in the face.  He stood and grabbed my shoulders.  He shook me a hard and brought me very close to his face.  I was so frightened and caught off guard that I did not try to fight.  My heart began to pound with fear and I felt my body tense up even tighter.  "Listen here, Princess.  The only reason I agreed to marry you is because you have no other choice.  There are no other Princes for you to marry.  It is therefore my given right to use you and your power to further myself, considering I am doing you a favor.  One cannot help but notice that you are very beautiful Serena, and I have every right to you and your body. You will give to me what I want, and when I choose to have it."  With that he kissed me roughly.  I was disgusted and out of breath.  I felt like I was being smothered and I wanted nothing more than to get away.
        I had been kissed before, but never like this.  The other boys were just puppy love and I had merely pecked their lips.  They were probably too intimidated by my Mother and my power to have tried anything more.  I also knew that I would not end up marrying them, so why set myself up for pain?
        Then I felt one of Micah's hands release my arm and grab my breast.  He tried to pull down the top of my dress.  Enraged I pushed him away using my energy. Micah flew across the room landing on his backside. "How dare you!!!" I screamed as I backed away.
        "Ah Princess." Micah started calmly and methodically.  He was taunting me.  "If you want a fight, you can have one.  The Queen of Saturn started training me when I was only seven.  I have far more practice than you, you can be sure.  But never mind.  I do not need to have you now.  I can wait until after the wedding.  That way you can dread its coming.  A far worse punishment in my opinion than taking you here.  But just remember, you can't say anything to anyone.  After all, we would not want to disappoint Mommy and the Court, would we?" he sneered.
        Flustered, I glared at him, viciously with my fists clenched at my sides.  "No. I will tell my mother.  She would never want me to be violated like this by a man I am supposed to one day love!" I screamed, tears now streaming down my face.
        "Well in that case, I will tell everyone that you came on to me." Micah replied nonchalantly.
        "My mother will be able to tell you are lying!"
        "Serena...  I can pull off a simple telepathic block.  The only reason it works on commoners is because they do not have any telepathic powers.  Our bloodlines do.  It is what separates them from us.  Your mother, as powerful as she is, will not be able to tell."
        "But my mother knows me better than that!" I cried in desperation.
        "Does she now?  Serena you have never been around a man before.  She will think it is possible that you came onto me."
        He was right.  I had only one choice for my husband considering that I was bound by law and tradition to marry a prince.  The other princesses could marry whomever they chose.  That was an asset Lita definitely took a great deal of advantage of.  She had dated so many men.  Mina, a few.  Basically because she felt compelled to as the Princess of Venus, the planet of love.  Raye had men falling all over her but was swatting them off like flies, while Amy had a few admirers but really had only dated one guy, a bookworm like herself.  Helen was not yet old enough to date, Sharon was too busy with being the guardian of time and all, and Michelle and Alex just hung around each other a lot.  There was no other possible person I could marry.
        It was then that a servant entered the room and with the door opened for me, I turned and ran out, sobbing.  When I was almost out the door, I heard him say, "It was my pleasure talking to you, Dear.  See you soon.  I will call upon you so we can start our wedding plans."  He cackled as I left, leaving a very confused servant standing with a tray of food.
        For the next month, I did not leave my quarters.  My mother asked me what was wrong and I simply told her I was feeling poorly and that I wished to be left alone.  Micah had tried to call upon me twice.  However, he found his invitations twice declined.  I was furious at him, furious at my life, and furious at myself.  How could I have allowed this to happen?  I felt so dirty from the way he touched me.  I must have taken a dozen showers that night.  But it was pointless.  There was nothing that I could do about what was done or what was going to be done with my future.  I felt so sick every time I thought about the life ahead of me.
        One late afternoon, my mother came into my room with a broad smile across her face.  "Serena, you know how you love the theatre?"  I turned my head slowly toward her.
        "Yes.  Why?" I asked tentatively.  Normally when my mother had that look on her face, she had volunteered me for some activity without telling me so that way I could not say no.
        "Well, I thought it would be fun if you were in a play.  You love watching them so much, I knew you would enjoy playing a role.  You have always loved the stage, Serena.  Your ice skating competitions and all, I know you will love it.  Please say you will go.  It will give you a chance to meet some of our subjects.  It is at the community theatre.  Oh Serena, you shall love it, I promise."
        I sighed.  I could never say no to my Mother after she had gotten herself all worked up about something.  She was so excited and she wanted to see me happy again and out of my room.  She looked so pathetically hopeful that I agreed.
        As it turned out, the play was fun.  We were to perform a play called Brigadoon.  It was from Earth.  We all had a wonderful time working on our lines and making mistakes during rehearsals.  Luckily, Mother had signed me up as a girl named Jasmine, so with the help of the disguise power pen, I was not recognized by any of the people in the theatre. Instead of my long gold locks and blue eyes I had short black hair with green eyes.  That was good, for I would have never experienced what it's like to be a normal person doing a play.
        One night, everyone else had left the theatre, but I stayed behind.  I loved looking at the sets and just taking it all in.  I sat in the audience and just pondered the significance of what I was doing and what I was a part of.  It was then that I heard somebody walking up behind me.  I was a bit startled.  I thought everyone else had left.  I jumped out of my seat and ran to the stage, where I could oversee everything clearly.
        There was a man walking up the center isle.  I couldn't make out his face.  My heart stopped.  I was struck with fear as I realized who it was.

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