Title: Friends For Life
Author: Grace
Part: 2/?
Email: GraceSpradlin@hotmail.com

Growing up...

*9 years later*

Serena swung her sword around and slammed the butt of it into Jediete's 
back. He fell to the ground with a grunt. "I win, again!" Serena raised her 
sword into the air. "Beat by a girl, Jed? What a wuss." Kunzite shook his 
head in disbelief. Jediete scrambled from the ground and wiped the dirt 
from hid uniform, muttering incoherant words to himself. Serena couldn't 
help but laugh. She had been sword fighting since the day her parents had 
gotten killed. She wanted to pay back the men who had slottered her parents. 
They deserved to die. The King and Queen didn't mind that Serena had 
developed a liking to fighting because they just wanted her to be happy. 
They wanted her to do what she liked not what someone made her do. The woman 
on the Queen's council didn't approve. They believed that no female should 
be allowed to fight or get dirty like that. Serena thought that the women 
who made up the Queen's council were just old hags, anyways. 'I'm not going 
to sit on my damn ass all day, sipping tea. They have got to be crazy! And I 
will definatly not wear one of those dresses!' Serena had already made it 
clear to herself that she wanted to hang with the boys and not with those 
old ladies.

"I bet you can't do any better, Kunz!" Nephrite yelled from where he was 
standing talking to Darien and Zoicite. "Wanna bet? I can beat that girl in 
a heart beat!" He strolled over to Serena and raised his sword. "Let's get 
this over with." Kunzite definatly did not want to get humiliated like 
Jediete just did. 'Mistake #1 : Never under-estimate the enemy!' Serena 
smirked. She side swiped Kunzite with her foot and tripped him. Then swung 
her sword around and pointed the tip of it directly on his neck. "Wha--?" 
Everything happened so fast that he didn't know that he had already been 
pinned down. "You were saying...?" Darien couldn't hold in his laughter at 
what Serena had said. Kunzite definatly didn't know how good she really was. 
"How?" Kunzite was embarrased more than he had ever been in his entire life. 
Serena offered her hand for him to use to stand up. He was too mad at the 
moment, so he shrugged it off and stood up himself.

"Don't even say anything!" Kunzite spat at Darien and Nephrite as he 
trudged back into the palace, heading for his chambers. Once he was out of 
sight and hearing distance, they burst into laughter. Serena placed her 
sword back into it's proper place then walked over to the guys. Nephrite 
turned around and followed Kunzite to the palace. "That was good, Sere!" 
Serena didn't have time to reply as a maid came running up the path yelling 
at them to get ready. The guests had already arrived. "Damn! I forgot. Those 
moonies were supposed to have a meeting with mother today." Darien hurried 
up the path with the other two, in tow. Serena and Zoicite couldn't help but 
laugh at Darien's misfortune.

When they reached the palace, they each went to their own rooms to change 
into something more appropriate. Serena slipped off her shorts and put on a 
pair of jeans. (AN: this is *my* story, she can wear what I want her to.) 
Then she pulled on a black long-sleeved shirt. She ran over to her bed and 
put on her good tennis-shoes. Serena looked in the mirror. She walked over 
to the pale of water and washed her face. Now, she was satisfied. She dried 
off her face and left her room. In the hall, she met up with Darien, 
Zoicite, and Nephrite. They were all used to Serena wearing male clothes. As 
a matter a fact, they don't even remember her ever wearing a dress, even 
before her parents died.

When they reached the room where the meeting was being held, Darien walked 
in first with the others three following close behind. He sat next to his 
parents while Zoicite and Nephrite sat next to the other two generals. 
Serena sat on the other end of the table next to Beryl, a young woman a year 
older than Serena. Beryl didn't like her because she got to spend a lot of 
time with the Prince. Beryl wanted Darien all to herself. In her mind, she 
had told herself that she loved the Prince, but she fooled herself. It was 
just an infatuation. To Serena, Beryl was just a self-centered, stuck-up 
bitch. She was always mean and never cared about anyone but herself. What 
Beryl didn't know, was that Darien already kew that she was lusting after 
him. He just ignored her.

"It has come to my attention that the Queen of the Moon, Serenity, wants us 
to join the 'Silver Millenium'. Now, I do not want to because I don't trust 
her or any of those other Queens from their own planets." Gia looked at her 
husband while he continued on. There was always a dispute between us two, I 
don't think we should join." Serena glanced at Darien, she could tell that 
he didn't seem to care about any of this planet joining stuff. "Are you 
sure, Edmond? I mean, maybe this is the right thing. Maybe we *should* join 
the 'Silver Millenium'. But then again, I don't trust her either. She could 
easily break it off and attack us when we least expect it." Gia was worried. 
She didn't know if they should, or shouldn't join. She looked at her son. 
"Endymion? What do you think?" He looked up, shocked at being asked such a 
powerful question. "Um...I...I don't know either. I don't trust that woman." 
That was all he could think of at the moment and well, it was the truth. 
"Hmmmm. What about you Serena?" Serena was ready for that. She had been 
pondering for a moment what she should say, when, in fact Gia would ask her. 
"I believe that we shouldn't. I never got the time to get to know Queen 
Serenity, nor do I want to. I have heard rumors that she couldn't even take 
care of her own daughter. That her daughter was kidnapped at birth. I don't 
want anything happening like that here." Everyone thought for a while. It 
was finally decided that they would *not* join. They didn't want anyone from 
Earth getting hurt from the other planets in any way, emotionally, mentally, 
or even physically.

They walked out of the room, following close behind Gia and Edmond. They 
all headed for the throne room. Once there, Gia and Edmond sat down while 
Darien stood beside them with his generals at his side. Serena and Beryl 
stood on the other side of the pair. A guard walked in and stood before the 
Queen. "You majesties, the Queen of the Moon and her court have freshined up 
and are awaiting you." Gia glanced at her husband. "Let them in." She was 
worried about how they would break it to Serenity. The guard walked out and 
led a tall woman with silver hair into the room. Behind her were eight other 
women who were about Serenity's age. They were each dressed in their 
rightful colors. Serenity stopped in front of Queen Gia. "Nice to see you, 
Gia." Serenity didn't want to get on Gia's bad side. "Likewise. I hear that 
you came to ask me something?" 'Get to the point, Serenity.' Gia wanted to 
get this over with, quickly. "Yes. First, let me introduce to you the woman 
I have brought with me." Gia nodded for her to continue. Serenity stood 
beside the one wearing a deep blue dress. "This is Queen Amilia from 
Mercury." She went to the one wearing red. "Queen Rachel (AN: sounds like 
'rakel') of Mars." Serenity walked over to the one wearing a deep emerald 
dress. "This is Queen Litania of Jupiter. This is Queen Monica of Venus." 
She gestured to a woman wearing orange. "This is Queen Alexis of Uranus, 
Queen Aleshia of Neptune, Queen Suzanne of Pluto, and Queen Christina of 
Saturn." She introduced the four Queens of the outer planets. Gia nodded her 
greeting then turned to Serenity. She wanted her to just ask the stupid 
question and get it over with. She did not want to sit here all day 
chatting. "Ok, now what we wanted to know is if you would join the 'Silver 
Millenium'?" Christina glanced at Suzanne then shook her head. Before Gia 
could respond, Serenity continued. "Belonging to the 'Silver Millenium' 
would mean that if you were under attack, your closest planets would come 
and help you. When we make agreements, we do it together. I think you should 
join. You are the only planet left to join." Gia looked at the Queen of 
Pluto. Suzanne had pain reflecting in her eyes. She knew that the Royal 
Family of Earth had already decided not to join. She knew it was a waste of 
time to come here. But what she wished she didn't know was what the 
conciquences of not joining would be.

Serena looked at the Queens of the other planets. The Queens of Uranus and 
Neptune were whispering between themselves. The Queen of Saturn looked like 
she would break down and cry any minute now. Serena didn't know why Queen 
Christina was going to do that. 'I mean, it's just a stupid agreement about 
joining forces. It isn't going to kill them.' She didn't know how bad it 
would turn out though. She turned to look at the Queen of Pluto. She didn't 
have any expression on her face. She seemed to be thinking, though. 'What is 
wrong with everybody? Maybe we should join... But then again, this could be 
another trick.' Serena didn't want to be fooled. She looked at Darien. He 
seemed to be thinking the same thing. He glanced at her and they both knew 
that this was going to be a while. They looked at Gia and Edmond. Queen Gia 
didn't look like she was going to change her mind. Edmond didn't care about 
the other Queens's pitiful faces. He was fooled before by them, he wouldn't 
be fooled again. He would let his wife handle this one. After all, he didn't 
care about any of this kind of stuff. As long as his planet was safe and 
happy, he was ok.

"I am sorry. We will not join your 'Silver Millenium'." Gia tried to be as 
polite as her feelings would let her. "May I ask why not? It won't hurt." 
Serenity had been told by Suzanne that they would not join, but she didn't 
believe it. Actually, she didn't want to believe it. "We just don't want to. 
What if you turned against us? We would have eight other planets on our 
asses. It would be the same situation we are in now. So we do not wish to 
join and that is our final answer." Gia was glad she got that out. "If that 
is how you want it, then I will not try to get you to change your mind." 
Serenity was not into begging so she left it at that. "You can stay for the 
rest of the weekend to get a view of the planet. We don't mean to be rude. 
We are just thinking of the safety of us Terrans. We are sorry." Edmond 
tried to sound polite. "Yes, of course. We are all thinking of the safety of 
our people. We will take you up on that offer. Right now, I think we need 
some rest." Serenity didn't know why they didn't want to join. She knew that 
it wasn't the reason they told her. "Jacob?" A guard stepped up to the Queen 
of the Earth. "Yes ma'm?" He sounded really nervous. He had never seen so 
many Queen's in one room at the same time. "Please show these women where 
they will be staying." Gia looked at Jacob who nodded and left with the 
other Queens in tow.

"Well, I am tired as well. I think I will go hit the sack, too. If you 
don't mind?" Serena looked at Gia who nodded in approval. Darien followed 
her out of the room. "That was terrible." Serena didn't know of any other 
way to put it. "You've got that right. Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Sere." 
Darien headed for his room. "Ok. Good-night, Dare." She walked into her room 
and slipped on her night gown. She sat down in front of her large mirror and 
picked up her brush. She combed through her hair a good ten minutes then 
stood up. She walked over to the wall where a large painting stood. It was a 
painting of her parents. She missed them so much. She brushed her fingers 
against it, trying to remember every detail of them. A solitary tear fell 
from her right eye. She didn't reach up to brush it away. She stepped out 
onto her balcony and looked up at the moon. 'Why did this have to happen? 
What did they do to deserve this? They were such nice people. They were the 
best parents anyone could ask for. WHY?!?!?!" Serena burst into tears and 
held onto the railing. She walked back into her room, too tired to do 
anything else. So she slipped under the covers and went to sleep.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Yes, I know. The first part was better, but who cares.
Email me at *Goddess*@tokyo.com.
Tell me if you like it. Should I continue with it?
Well, send me comments or flames, or encouragment!