Work Text:
Aurelia hated parties.
Had she been somebody else she could of avoided the event all together. She didn't want to be here, she would've preferred doing something productive with her time. Like playing piano or practising her skills. But, no, she had to be here. She and her family had been invited to the ball by Queen Serenity, her Mother and the Moon Queen had been friends from before she was born - her Mother was a member of Queen Serenity's court. And, unfortunately for Aurelia, she was born into the royal family of Uranus. She was the daughter of King Cedric, she had his blonde hair and blue eyes, and Queen Azure, the Sailor Uranus before her and the women who taught her everything she knew.
Aurelia admired her Mother. When she was younger she wanted to be just like her. A fighter. Somebody who didn't have to wear gowns or feminine clothing. Somebody who wasn't afraid of getting her clothes dirty and who fought her own battles. Somebody who put her people first instead of her own well being. Her Mother was that very person and Aurelia wanted her Mother to train her. Of course, Azure spent years perfecting her skills as a warrior - which helped her as Sailor Uranus when she came into her powers - but she did promise her daughter that she would train her once the time was right. When the time came Azure taught her daughter how to fight. They trained with various weapons: Swords, staffs, daggers, crossbows, magic. If she was ever in a dangerous situation she could use anything for her advantage - whether it was an actual weapon or something she found lying around. Her Mother once told that anything could be used against you. Even your own dress.
If there was one thing everybody knew about Queen Azure is that she never wore dresses. Everybody who was attending the party on the Moon was wearing beautiful gown with fine jewellery, herself included. Even from her sitting position by the nearest set of doors she could still see the sea of colours on the ballroom floor. But not her Mother. No, she was wearing an outfit that resembled a dress but it made to look like a warrior outfit. Her Mother once told her that dresses can limit your movement and leave you vulnerable - how can anybody defend themselves whilst wearing a dress? That's why she never wore one. She didn't wear on Uranus, she wouldn't wear them if she was visiting another Planet or Satellite. Aurelia couldn't remember if she had ever seen her Mother in a gown or feminine clothing... No, wait there was that one time when she asked her Mother about it. Azure told her that the only time she wore a dress was at Queen Serenity's wedding. She was almost tempted to not wear one but it was Serenity's and Remus's wedding day and she was being respectful.
"Aurelia."
Looking up she was a young women standing in front of her table. She had light blonde hair, which had a yellow bow in it with a rose in the middle, and blue eyes. She was wearing a golden-yellow dress with straps and yellow frills running down the dress. On the straps were small yellow bows which were attached to yellow ribbons. Around her neck was a yellow choker, with a ribbon on the back, and a pendent necklace. On her forehead was a heart shaped symbol with a cross at the bottom in orange. Her name was Darlene, Princess of Venus. She is the daughter of King Andros and Queen Aphrodite.
"Hello, Darlene." Aurelia greeted. "I take it your enjoying yourself?"
"I am, the whole event has been wonderful so far. I don't know how Queen Serenity does it." Darlene replied, taking a seat in the available chair. "What about you, Aurelia? Are you enjoying the party?"
"They're not really my thing but the event has been interesting. All this for Princess Serenity's birthday." That was the reason as to why they were there in the first place. Today was Princess Serenity's birthday. Besides she did promise to save one day for the Princess. "So to what do I owe the pleasure, Lady Venus?"
"I was wondering if you have seen Princess Serenity? She hasn't arrived yet." Darlene asked.
Well, you know what they say the Princess is always fashionably late. Which was true because Princess Serenity had no sense of time.
"I haven't seen her since we landed two days ago." Aurelia told her. "But I will keep an eye out for her. After all we can't have the Princess missing on her own birthday now, can we?"
"I suspected as much..." Darlene sighed before muttering "This has to stop, Serenity."
To that Aurelia raised an eyebrow. Dalene seemed... frustrated with the Princess disappearance. She knew that Darlene was a member of Princess Serenity's inner court. They, much like their Mother's before them, were assigned to protecting Princess Serenity. Herself and Princess Cordelia were assigned to protecting the outer reaches of the galaxy whilst the Princess of Pluto was assigned to protecting the Space-time door. That was their duty but with the help of their guardians they could come and go as they pleases, that's why they were at the party and not at their stations. But with Serenity's disappearance...
"Has Serenity done something like this before." Aurelia inquired.
"Hmm... Oh, right, you probably don't know about it anyway." Darlene said. "Its been happening for a while now. Myself and the others have been trying to stop it but she manages to find away around us."
"And that is?"
"She keeps leaving the Moon Kingdom to go to Earth. She..." A pause. She didn't want to lie to Aurelia but Darlene couldn't tell her about what Serenity was actually doing. Nobody was suppose to know about it and anybody could be listening. "She wants to see what's down there."
So, that was it. The Moon Princess was heading down to Earth. What was she thinking? The people of the Moon Kingdom, as well as the other Planets, were not allowed to engaged with the people of Earth. That rule was put in place by Queen Serenity's own Mother. She didn't know the whole story about it, mostly because she had her own duties on Uranus and the outer reaches of the Solar System, but apparently there had been a traitor on the Moon Kingdom and he was revealed to not be Lunarian.
"You needn't worry, Darlene. She bound to show up eventually" Aurelia assured her.
"Thank you, Aurelia" The Princess of Venus thanked. "Well, I'll leave you to it. Oh, and if you see Serenity tell her that her Mother needs to talk to her. The Queen said it was important"
"Will do." Aurelia replied. "I'll see you later, Lady Venus."
"Likewise, Lady Uranus."
With that said Princess Darlene left the table leaving Aurelia alone with her thoughts. So, Princess Serenity was missing. It could just be a misunderstanding and Serenity was late. But... if there was something else going on then it could bring trouble for both the Moon Kingdom and Earth. There were rumours of possible conflict between the two Kingdoms. The Lunarian were suppose to watch over and protect the Earth Kingdom from invaders, yet the people of Earth believed that they should protect their own life's with their own hands. There has never been a protector of Earth, except for their own relic, and they didn't want some alien people protecting them. Besides most of the conflict on Earth was involved with the Lunarians and the other protectors. If Princess Serenity was doing something bad then it could be disasters for everybody.
With nothing else to do, and because she didn't want to watch the endless dancing, Aurelia decided to go and find Princess Serenity. She stood up, tucked the chair under the table and made her way to the nearest doors which were up the stairs to the second floor of ballroom - nobody saw her leave. Walking down the corridor she couldn't help but wonder where the Princess was. The library was a no-no. Serenity hated study, how her tutors managed with the girl she'll never know. The Palace gardens were a possibility since Serenity loved flowers and pretty things. Her bedroom? Well, that was another possibility as well but Aurelia didn't want to go inside somebody bedroom. Serenity could be hiding all sorts of things in there and Aurelia didn't feel comfortable going inside somebody else's room, unless she was invited in. But with Serenity currently missing she didn't have any choice.
She was about to make a left turn when somebody knocked into her. Aurelia and the person went tumbling down. The Princess of Uranus was quick to recover, supressing the pain and a groan as she moved her body into a sitting potion. Her eyes were shut and her head was killing her.
"Oh, Aurelia, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you coming around the corner"
Opening her eyes she was Princess Serenity sitting in front of her, looking embarrassed and red-faced. Despite there current situation Princess Serenity still looked beautiful. She inherited that from her Mother. The Moon Princess looked like a miniature version of her Mother, the only difference was their hair and eye colour. Her blonde hair, which she inherited from her father, was still in the traditional Lunarian hairstyle (she had two round buns and two pigtails) Her white dress was a little crumpled but that could be easily smoothed out. What really sealed the deal was Serenity's blue eyes. Despite the tears coming out of them they still shined beautifully.
"That's alright, Selene. It was my fault too" Aurelia replied.
"R-really?" Serenity questioned.
"Really" Aurelia assured her.
Slowly, Aurelia stood up. With a smile she offered Serenity her right hand and the Moon Princess accept it. Slowly, Aurelia help the Princess stand up. When Serenity was standing again Aurelia placed her right hand on Serenity's left check and used to her thumb to caress it, removing the tears in the process. They weren't blood related but Aurelia treated Serenity like a little sister. She was young and vulnerable and anybody could easily take advantage of her kind nature. She did have her own protectors but they weren't with her at the moment. Shouldn't they be with her all the time? Or, at least one of them.
"There were go, Bunny. Feel better?" Aurelia asked, removing her hand away in the process.
"Yes. Thank you, Elia." Serenity replied. " What about you?"
"Just a headache but it will pass." The Princess of Uranus told her.
"Well, I could heal you if you like." Serenity offered. "I have been practising, and its the least I could do for knocking you down."
Aurelia smiled "If you insist."
Serenity nodded and took a deep breath. She had been practising, getting better each time she used her healing magic, but she wasn't overly confident. Besides she didn't want to hurt Aurelia. She placed her right hand one Aurelia's forehead and closed her eyes. There was a white glow and Aurelia felt the magic wash over her almost like the wind but much gentler. Within a few seconds the headache vanished and Serenity stop the magic.
"Well? How do you feel?" Serenity inquired. "Did I do it right?"
"I feel much better. Thank you, Selene." Aurelia replied. "I didn't know you could do healing magic."
"Its one of the powers of Moon. Mother told me then when somebody receives a crystal of the Moon they can different magical powers. One of them being a crystal that can create never ending snow storms and objects made out of ice" Serenity explained. "Besides Mother and Harmony are better at it then I am"
"That doesn't matter, Selene. You did a good job." Aurelia assured her.
"Thanks, Elia." Serenity grinned sheepishly, not used to this kind of praise. But this was Aurelia she was talking to.
"No Problem." Aurelia replied. Then she got serious. "Now then, young lady. where have you been? You know what today is."
"My birthday. I know, Elia, but I was in my chambers and lost track of time. That's why I was running." Serenity said.
Aurelia believed her but... her eyes were telling a different story.
"Alright, Bunny, I believe you." Aurelia replied. "You best get going. I was talking to Darlene earlier and she said that your Mother needs to talk to you."
"Oh, right. I better get going." Serenity said. Then she remembered something. "Oh, and don't forget, Aurelia. You own me a dance."
"Of course. Anything for you, Selene." Aurelia replied whilst bowing.
Serenity couldn't help but giggle. Aurelia had always been like that, playing the gentlemen. Except Aurelia was never playing around. She Couldn't explain it. She felt more comfortable acting like a man, it was a like a mask to protect her from people seeing the real her. She could still be feminine, it wasn't her style but who says you have to play by somebody's rules? Some had questioned if she was actually man but given her feminine features they knew better. Perhaps it was something she inherited from her Mother? Yeah, that was probably it.
Before leaving Aurelia Serenity smoothed out the creases. She said good bye to Aurelia and made her way to the ballroom, leaving Aurelia alone with her thoughts once more The smile she had faded, what was Princess Serenity hiding? Was it to do with what Darlene told her? Well, whatever it was it was too late to ask now. Maybe she could ask her later?
"What can I do now?" Aurelia pondered.
She didn't want to go back to the ballroom, not yet anyway. She knew her disappearance would be noticed but she rather do something else for the time being. Like playing music. When she was looking around the palace this morning she saw a music room with various instruments inside - Piano included. Besides she might see a certain teal haired Princess there. When she was doing nothing in the ballroom she didn't see the Princess of Neptune amongst the crowd, she had seen her parents there but not their daughter. Making her mind up Aurelia made her way to the music room. She walked to the opposite end of the corridor Serenity came from and open a pair of double doors.
On the other side was a staircase with red carpet and gold railing. The walls were blue and there were gold candelabra which were all lit. In the middle of the wall was a large scenic painting with a gold frame around it. Aurelia went down the stairs but stop in front of the painting. It was beautiful. It was a landscape painting for a meadow with flowers in various colours and young women was standing in the middle of the meadow. The women in question was the Moon Goddess Selene - or, at least what the artist envisioned her to look like. Nobody knew what the real Selene looked like. Some say that Queen Serenity looked like the Moon Goddess but they were two different people. Selene had long, flowy whiteish blue hair which two round buns, dark blue eyes and pale skin. She was wearing a pale yellow dress with gold ruffles and a blue collar and cape. On her arms were white fingerless gloves with gold bracelets on them and on her feet were sandals. On her forehead was a white crescent moon.
"Its beautiful, isn't it?"
Aurelia smiled, knowing full well who it was. She turned to left and saw a young women sitting at the top of staircase, behind her body was the railing and her legs were dangling of the stairs. She had had wavy teal hair and dark blue eyes and on her forehead was a symbol of a trident in teal. She was wearing a sea green gown and a choker with ribbon attached to it. She also had a sea green necklace and healed name was Cordelia, Princess of Neptune and daughter of King Triton and Queen Umi.
"It is, but not as beautiful as you/" Aurelia flattered.
"Sweet talker." Cordelia murmured.
"Well, you know me. I aim to please." Aurelia said.
She walked over to Cordelia and took a seat on the staircase, Cordelia moved herself so that she was sitting next to blonde and placed her head on Aurelia's shoulder. In response Aurelia wrapped her right arm around Cordelia. Nobody said anything, they were enjoying the peace and each others company.
"I missed you, Nerina." Aurelia muttered.
"And I missed you, Leilani." Cordelia cooed. "I'm sorry for not visiting sooner. Mother has kept me busy since we arrived and... Well, you know what my father thinks of us."
Aurelia knew what she was talking about. Triton didn't approve of their relationship. Despite everything, despite all the odds thrown against them, Aurelia and Cordelia loved each other. There was an attraction between them that nobody could explain, like they were connected together by a red string and breaking it would only cause each other great pain. Before they became a couple Aurelia did go through a courtship with a man but she didn't feel anything for him, not like her feeling for Cordelia. She could calm her anger with her violin, change the wind into a calming breeze, bring light into the darkness. If she wanted to she could marry Cordelia, bring in a new era and a union between Uranus and Neptune. Azure would allow it since she knew about their love for each other and she approved for it, Cedric would have no problem with it either.
But not Triton. He was very old fashioned and wanted a child who would continue the Neptune legacy, even though his wife had power over it. He wanted Cordelia to marry somebody of noble birth, and that meant marry a man so that she could have children. Cordelia had a few courtships herself but none of them were successful. Triton believed that she hadn't found the right person yet, but Cordelia knew better. The marriage would be loveless and she would just be used for making babies. She did feel sorry for each of the men she dated. There may have been something between them, a little spark or feelings, but it wasn't like what she had with Aurelia.
"You know I could have a word with your father. Or, maybe I could ask my Mother to talk to him." Aurelia suggested.
"You will do no such thing. I know my Father doesn't approve of us but I still care for him." Cordelia chastised.
"I was joking, Nerina." Aurelia said.
"You better be." Cordelia huffed.
The two of them looked at each other for a while before they started laughing, Cordelia was more lady like about it. It was like a game between the two of them, something to keep their spirits up despite everything happening around them. When the laughter faded Aurelia placed her right hand under Cordelia's chin and brought her in for a kiss. It was sweet at first until Cordelia started kissing her back. After a few more minutes they ended the kiss and stared at each other.
"I love you, Nerina." Aurelia murmured.
"I love you two, Leilani." Cordelia whispered.
They sat like that for a moment... until Cordelia's face changed expression. Before it was innocent and longing with desire but now all the love she once had vanished and her eyes were wide with fear. Aurelia removed the smile from her face. There was something not right here.
"Cordelia? Are you alright?" She asked.
"I... I don't know. I think there's a storm coming, the sea is churning." Cordelia responded.
"You do?" Aurelia questioned. Then she felt it. "I just felt it too. The winds are changing."
Cordelia summoned her talisman. It was a gold handheld mirror with the symbol of Neptune on the back and roses around it. She looked at the reflected side and the image changed. She was expecting signs of an invasion, or an anomaly that threaten the peace. But instead of that she saw a young women who was about the same age as her and Aurelia, or maybe a little bit older. She had short icy blue hair, which was very similar to the traditional Lunarian hairstyle but she didn't have any buns, and dark blue eyes. She was dressed as a Sailor Soldier. She had a white sailor suit and gloves, a white belt with a crescent moon on it and a white skirt with two borders on it - the first was silver and the second was icy blue. She also had a icy blue collar, a silver choker with a blue crescent on it, winged shoulder pads and blue boots with a triangular border and crescent moon on them. On the front of the suit was a blue bow with a heart shaped brooch on it and behind the suit was a long, silver billowy bow. On her forehead was a gold tiara with a blue crescent on it.
They watched as anger flashed on the women's face. The brooch glowed and a it started snowing. The snow turned violent and eventually the women had disappeared behind it. As the image faded the only thing that reminded were her blue eyes and the Crescent Moon.
"What... What was that just now?" Aurelia questioned.
"I don't know. I've never seen anything like it before." Cordelia muttered.
"That women... She had a crescent moon on her tiara." Aurelia recalled. "Is she Lunarian?"
"She might be but... Who is she?" Cordelia said. "Queen Serenity only has two daughters but none of them looked like her. Selene has a gold crescent and Harmony has a star on her forehead."
"We need to tell Queen Serenity. She might-"
They heard screaming. The doors above them opened and a bunch of people came running down the stairs. None of them stop to talk to Aurelia or Cordelia, they were to busy screaming about an invasion and that they were being attacked. The two Princess stood up, seriousness flashed on their faces. Whatever was happening they knew one thing. The Moon Kingdom was under attack and they had to go and defend it. They summon for their transformation items Aurelia was about to transform when Cordelia touched her shoulder. The blonde looked at her.
"Whatever happens I'm with you." Cordelia promised.
Aurelia nodded in agreement. They said a few simple words and they started to transform. Once their transformation was done Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune stood in their places. Their gown replaced with their Sailor suits. Uranus was in navy blue and yellow, Neptune was in sea green and navy blue. They took of upstairs with determination on their faces.
For whatever happens next they know one thing. They will do it together.