Title: Friends For Life
Author: Grace
Parts: 6/?
Email: GraceSpradlin@hotmail.com


Unknown Feelings...

	The sun's rays spilled over Serena's room. It was lit up 
by the golden glow. Serena sat up and yawned. In the distance she 
heard the sound of two people arguing. She couldn't recognize whom 
they were because of how far away they sounded, but she knew that 
they were far from happy. She got up and stretched, while looking 
at her dresser. On it lay a beautiful light blue rose. "How pretty. 
But how did it get there? Did Darien leave it?" She walked over to 
it and picked it up. Underneath lay an envelope addressed to her in 
fine, cursive print. She set the rose down and picked up the envelope. 
Opening it carefully, she read the short letter.

'Dear Lady Serena,

	I had a great time tonight! I hope that we could do that 
again sometime. I hope that you had a good time also. You are a great 
dancer. (AN: sucking up, now aren't we?hehe) Well, I don't want this 
to be that long. Sweet dreams my princess.

	-Prince Diamond'

	Serena sighed. She did have a good time with Diamond. 'I would 
have had a great time if I had spent that time with Darien.......' 
She layed the note back down on the dresser and walked out of her room 
with the rose. She headed down to the kitchen. Once she reached her 
destination, she placed the rose in a vase full of water and headed 
back to her room. 

	Darien brought his hand up to his forehead and rubbed it. He 
had just had a talk with his mother. Actually, he would call it an 
argument. Gia had wanted a vacation to herself and Endymion. He argued 
with her, telling her that he didn't want to go. What he didn't tell 
her was that he wanted to stay with Serena. Any minute without her was
 hard enought. But a week or two was plain torture. Gia had finally one 
that little battle with her son's mind and talked him into taking a 
break from training. Now he was sitting on his bed thinking of how to 
tell Serena that he loved her. He didn't want anything to happen when 
he was gone. He looked up at the ceiling. 'How am I going to tell 
her?!?! I mean, I can't just go up to her and say "Sere, I'm madly in 
love with you." No. That would be the *wrong* thing to do. I am lost 
here. I want to know it she feels the same way.' He pondered that for a 
while as he got up from his bed and got dressed. He headed out of his 
room and down for breakfast.

	When everyone was seated at the table, Gia informed them that 
she and Edmond had an announcement to make. Everyone waited patiently. 
"Well, first off, Serenity and her Senshi have departed for the Moon. 
Before she left, she told me that she started a search party for her 
daughter, starting with the outer planets. Why she has started to search 
for the Princess now, is beyond me. But when the time comes, I will let 
her people come and search Earth, just out of respect. I don't want to 
be the mean one and not let a mother search for her child." They nodded 
in agreement. Edmond didn't like the idea of Queen Serenity coming to 
his planet and searching every house. Invading his people's rights. It 
was not right. It fact, it was downright rude. But he had to go along 
with it, for Gia's sake.

	After breakfast, Serena walked out to the gardens to have time 
to herself, to think. Looking around at the various colors of roses, 
she noticed that the garden even had black ones. 'How odd.' She walked
 over to them and brushed her fingers against the petals. They had 
little drops of dew on them from the early morning. 'Of all the times 
I have been in these gardens, I have never noticed these.' She looked 
around and headed for the pink ones. They were her favorite. She 
didn't know why, except that pink was her favorite color.  She knew 
that the red roses were Darien's favorite flower. He had the thorns 
cut off of them. She would sometimes come out to the gardens and find 
Darien there, tending to his roses.

	Darien sighed. He didn't like the predicement that he was in. 
He sat down on a bench overlooking the lake. The sun shown brightly in 
the sky, shining it's reflection across the water perfectly. Today he 
and his mother would be traveling to Nemisis to visit Gia's friend, 
Terra. Darien didn't like the idea of going to that dreadful planet but
 it was his mother's decision, not his. He had found out, a week earlier, 
that Nemisis was Beryl's home planet, and that she had moved to Earth 
as a little girl. 'I'm not surprised she's from that planet. She resembles 
it perfectly.' Darien mused over all that had occured in the last couple 
days. 'Why must life-- no...why must love be so comlicated?' He sighed 
then looked back out at the lake.

	Gia looked up as Beryl walked in. "May I help you Beryl?" "My 
Queen, as you know, Nemisis is my home planet. I would like to know if 
I could journey with you and your son, to visit my family." Gia knew 
full well of Beryl's plans. She nodded as Beryl walked out of the room 
with a huge grin on her face. 'Stupid woman. She doesn't know what I'm 
up to.  This will be the best week of my life.' She smirked then headed 
for the communications room. When she arrived there, she went straight 
to the computer communicator that let's you talk to people anywhere 
in the galaxy.

	Beryl punched in a couple numbers, letters and symbols before 
a picture of Prince Diamond appeared on the screen. "Yes sister?" 
Diamond couldn't wait for Beryl to answer. He had asked her to do this 
earlier. "Diamond! The Queen has let me go to Nemisis. Endymion is 
coming with us." Diamond sighed with relief. Then perked up. "Us?" 
"Yes, her majesty is coming with us." Diamond smiled. 'Perfect. That 
boy won't be there and neither will his mother. Now nobody will be in 
my way to get what I want.' "Well, I have to go. If the brat is still 
here when I get back, I'll get rid of her myself." And with that, Beryl
 signed off. She left the room and headed for her own, fully intending to pack.

	Diamond leaned back in his chair. 'I will get what I want.' 
He didn't want the Prince to interfere with his plans, either. 
Looking out over the balcony, he could see the town slowly getting 
on with the day. It wasn't a pleasant one at that. The gods of Jupiter 
were upset for some reason, for there was a terrible thunderstorm 
hanging over the town. This would always happen. If the gods of Mars 
were angry, it would become very hot and a drought possibly may occur. 
With Mercury, it would snow or rain (any kind of precipitation, 
depending on how mad the god was) until it flooded or snowed in (some 
kind of weather disaster). When the gods of Venus were unhappy, it 
would suddenly become dark, and the sun would be blocked out of view 
for a maximum of six days. This would happen to all of the planets of 
the universe. Nobody knew why, but it was just what some people believed. 
But to Diamond, it was just the weather. 

	Looking at her husband carefully, Gia continued to pack. She 
knew that he didn't want her to go. It *was* a dangerous place to be 
at. Especially when the gods of Nemisis got mad. When this happened, 
plagues would roam each planet. Not leaving for about two weeks. It 
was a total disaster. It was pure evil, just like the planet itself. 
The gods of Nemisis rarely ever got angry. For that, Gia was eternally 
greatful. She definatly did not want it to happen while at Nemisis, 
because there, it was the worst place for a plague to strike. On Nemisis,
 people lived off of hatred. It was terribly hard to grow or raise 
anything there. People had to rely on other planets to export goods 
to Nemisis. Gia and her court would have to bring their own supplies 
for the trip. When she was done, she walked over to Edmond and gave 
him a tight hug. He hugged her back as if she were not ever going to 
return. 

	Jediete swung his sword up in the air and around so that it 
clashed with Nephrite's. Pressing as hard as he could against Nephrite's 
sword, he still wasn't as strong as his friend here. Nephrite pushed 
Jediete down and pointed his sword at Jediete's heart. "Good try, Jed. 
But I already told you that there is no way on Earth that you could beat 
*me*. Nobody can. Well, besides Serena and Darien, of course." Nephrite 
grinned with satisfaction. "Atleast I tried." Jediete picked himself up 
with the help of his friend's hand. "Neph! What are you talking about? You 
know that I can beat you and am, by far, way better than you." Kunzite 
walked up to them. Nephrite growled when he saw him. Kunzite had a really 
horrible attitude that needed to be taken care of. 'Beryl and Kunz would 
make a wonderful couple.' Nephrite smiled to himself then walked off 
muttering some excuse about going to see Darien. Jediete just looked at 
his retreating form. 'What a wuss.' He turned around and looked at Kunzite 
who was waiting for someone to say *something*.  He watched as Kunzite 
pulled out his sword and let the sun shine over it's surface. 'I'm out of 
here. I don't want ot see what happens to those who stay and watch him.' 
Jediete turned around and fled not even taking the time to mumble an excuse.

	Darien got up and headed in side. He needed to talk with his 
father about this. He definatly didn't want to tell one of his generals. 
They would pry everything out of him somehow. He didn't want to talk 
with his mother either because, well, you dont talk to your mother 
about these kind of things. You only talk to your male friends. 'Like 
hell, I'm gonna even think about talking to Beryl about it. She would 
blow a gasket! I can see it now!' He looked at the ceiling as he 
entered the palace. Once he reached his parents' chambers, he knocked 
politely on their door. He could hear his father mumbling something 
before the door opened. "Yes son?" Darien peered in and saw his mother. 
"Um...can I talk with you...in private?" Edmond gave him a strange look 
before motioning for Gia to leave and Darien to enter. He sat down on the 
edge of the bed as his son seated himself on a chair. "What is it?" Darien 
looked at his father. "How does it feel to be in love?" The question took 
Edmond by complete surprise. "So this is what you wanted to talk about? 
Well, when I met your mother, (AN: Don't you hate it when they always start
 out that way : 'When I met your mother....' kinda annoying actually) she 
was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. I couldn't think straight 
because she was the only thing that I could think of. I--wait! Why are you 
asking me in the first place?" Edmond had a sneaky suspicion that he already 
knew the answer to that question.

	Darien looked at the floor nervously. "Um...well...I was just 
wondering." He looked back at his father who had a knowing look on his 
face. "Who's the girl?" Edmond wanted to know who the lucky girl was who 
stole his son's heart. "I don't know what you are talking about, father." 
"Oh, come off it Endymion. We both know that your hiding something." He 
looked at his son, knowing that he would win. "Oh all right. There is a
girl, but you won't find out who she is. I don't plan to tell anyone." Darien 
was relieved when he saw his father agree. "So, you want me to tell you if 
you are in 'love' or just infatuated with some girl?" At Darien's nod, he 
continued. "Well, how do you feel when your around her? What do you like about
 her? Her looks, talent (if she's got any), emotions, or her personality?"  
"Well, I love her because she is a sweet and caring person. She never ceases 
(sp?) to amaze me. I wont lie to you, she is beautiful. I just don't know what 
to do." Edmond draped his arm over his son's shoulder. "You, my son, are in 
love. What don't you know what to do about?" "I don't know how to tell her. 
Would if she doesn't feel the same way? I don't want it to turn out the wrong 
way. It's tearing me up inside." (AN: no offense but the song 'Tearin' up my
 heart' by 'N Sync would fit great right here. Ok, nevermind. Sorry for the
 rude interruption. *jeez*) Darien looked up at his father and saw that 
he was amused. "Just tell her what your heart feels. *Listen* to your 
heart. If she is what you described then, I'd say 'Go For It'. She's 
worth it. Don't pass up this. It may be your only chance at love." Edmond 
got  up and looked in the full-length mirror. "Ok. I'll think about it. 
I've gotta go pack. Bye father." Darien left the room and headed for his 
own room. 

	Serena lay flat on her back gazing at the sky. She was in the 
middle of a field off to the side of the palace. This place was 
surrounded by trees and overgrowth. How she managed to get in, was 
her own secret. She loved to come here and think. It was her own little 
spot to do whatever she pleased. Sometimes she would practice. But most 
of the time, it was to think. She longed to be in Darien's arms right 
about then. That is what she had been thinking (day-dreaming) mostly about: 
what it would be like to have him hold her, hug her, kiss her. Yes, he hugs 
her all the time, but that was out of mere friendship. She wanted him to love 
her, like she did him. 'Why did the gods have to put such a caring and 
absolutely fine ass guy on this planet right in front of me to deal with?!?!?! 
YOU COULD ATLEAST HELP ME HERE!!!! *ugh* nevermind. That is not helping.' 
After her little chat with her mind, she stood up, brushed herself off and 
walked out of the field through the way she had come in. 'Why must my life
 be so hectic? I have to deal with the fact that I love the guy and he may 
well have no feelings whatsoever for me!' She walked through the gardens 
and headed straight for the teleporting room. 

	The Queen, her royal guards, Darien, and Beryl stood by the 
portal with a small portion of their belongings. To the side stood the 
King, Serena, and the four generals. Some of the maids had come to see 
them off. The Queen waved and they walked through the portal which sent 
them straight to Nemisis. Serena watched as the beam of light shot through 
the night like a shooting star. 'Come back safely, Dare'. She walked back 
into the main part of the palace followed closely by the King. None of 
them actually wanted them to go, but Gia had insisted. The woman was 
stubborn. She wouldn't let the issue drop until she got what she wanted. 
She never asked for much so nobody cared.

	An hour later at the dinner table nobody said a word. There 
wasn't anything to say. The only people there were Edmond, Serena and 
a couple guards. They ate in silence the whole time, not knowing how to 
break it. When everyone was finished, they had the plates taken up and 
cleaned. Serena for her part, headed for her room to do some serious 
sulking. It was boring without Darien or Gia there. They were always 
the ones who started conversation and usually had something interesting 
to talk about. Serena went to her room and stood in front of her mirror. 
'I can not stand two weeks alone from him. This is slow torture.' She 
quickly dressed into a night-gown and slipped under the covers of her 
bed. In less than two minutes she was fast asleep.


TO BE CONTINUED...
Don't you just hate those three words.
Well, so do I.
But like I say, 'Such is Life'.
Well, sorry it is not as long as it should have been.
Tell me what you think.
I always thank you guys for the replies so don't get mad.
Flames are ok too. Ideas are always welcome!!!