~Twenty Kisses~
Rated T
Chapter Title: "Cold"
Setting: Crystal Tokyo
Genre: Any
It was his turn.
The lump in King Endymion's throat swelled painfully as Lady Mercury gestured him somberly onward, the shaky grip she had on composure slipping as the pair connected eyes. With a deep, steadying breath, Crystal Tokyo's monarch squeezed the small hand clutching his. A little sniffle attracted his attention before the man could step forward, and he looked down at Princess Usagi. The sixteen-year-old was gazing up at him pleadingly.
"Do we have to, Papa?" she whispered, ignoring the millions of eyes measuring the two's every move like a callous spotlight.
Endymion ran his fingers through the pink hair that was quickly becoming a more docile strawberry blonde, much like Serenity's had morphed from gold to silver as her powers increased.
'Serenity.'
The name was like a sadistic twist of the knife, a knife already buried deep within his festering and bleeding heart. Endymion squeezed back tears as he replied softly to his daughter, "Don't you want to say goodbye, Small Lady?"
Usagi's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly downward- 'Small Lady' was hardly a title befitting any teenager, she'd long ago admonished- but as Endymion realized his err, he inwardly praised the girl for her tact. Now was not the time for childish sulking; not when the whole of the kingdom was watching them, and certainly not when *she* awaited.
The princess seemed to remember this, and she bit her lip, looking up at the rigid figure half-hidden inside her regal confines mere feet away.
"You won't get another chance," Endymion said, and Usagi gathered her wits at this aching reminder.
"Let's go," she sighed, and her father nodded encouragingly as he led them up the marble dais. Endymion's feet felt like ten pound weights as he and Usagi ascended, his eyes blinking sluggishly and body shivering slightly in denial. Seeing his wife like this... encased forever in a bed of silver, hands folded perfectly over her stomach...
The King stopped when they were standing directly in front of the open coffin. His breath caught at the sight of Neo-Queen Serenity's face, serene as it had been in life. She could have been sleeping, with the only giveaway that no spark resided behind her calm features being the pale hue to Her Majesty's skin. Endymion heard his daughter give a muffled sob, and even though he felt like breaking down himself, the presence of Serenity kept him stoic; detached. Part of him was still waiting for her to crack open one gloriously exuberant blue eye and wink, stifling snickers at this latest ruse that had succeeded only too well. But he knew that would not happen.
Because Neo-Queen Serenity was dead. Dead as the silence of the royal chambers in the early morning; lifeless as the heartstrings of Endymion's soul. He bent over almost without thinking to press a kiss to Serenity's stone cold lips, praying with all his might that the warmth would somehow revive the drained specter Endymion loved so fervently. He wanted to feel her cheeks flush; to observe the subtle jerks that precluded Serenity's every awakening since the day Endymion wed her. He wanted a miracle, that's what, but all of Endymion's fiercest wishes fell on deaf ears because when the man finally resurfaced, tears escaping down his cheeks, Serenity was still as cold and unmoving as a block of carefully chiseled ice.
"I tried, Usako," he uttered miserably, tracing a finger down her frozen profile. "I guess that sort of thing only happens once a lifetime."
"She looks so peaceful," the younger Usagi commented quietly from beside Endymion, mopping her countenance of moisture delicately with a handkerchief. The King wondered when his little girl had become so prim and proper, and then he surmised sadly that the metamorphosis must have occurred while his back was turned. Serenity's quickly ailing health had surprised them all, but none more so than Princess Usagi. It was with grudging acceptance that Crystal Tokyo's heir shouldered her mantle, aware that the time would soon come when her parents' reign concluded. Neo-Queen Serenity's unexpected death had been the hammer to the nail; the Pyrrhic victory for an unwilling Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity. This funeral symbolized an end and a beginning. Tomorrow, Endymion would be deemed regent. Tomorrow, Usagi would be Queen Lady Serenity of Crystal Tokyo. "And the roses crowning her head... what a fitting touch. Mama would have liked that."
"She never did prefer jewels, did she?" Endymion laughed half-heartedly, reluctantly pulling his hand away from the coffin. Instead, he wrapped an arm around Usagi. "Come. There are hundreds of mourners who wish to bid farewell to your mother; to celebrate her existence and grieve her passing. It would not be kind of us to monopolize the public's desire."
After one last reverent eye-sweep of Serenity's body, King Endymion led them back down the stairs. He knew his heart had remained in that glittering casket beside the Queen, and that life would never be the same until the cold that afflicted Serenity called him to join her as well. Still, Usagi's altruistic declaration assured Endymion that there was hope yet.
"You're right. Mama doesn't belong to us anymore. We have to share, because she is everybody's angel now."
The painful lump was back. Endymion hugged Usagi to him, gracing heaven with a grateful smile for having left a piece of Serenity in his care. So long as he had Small Lady, he had his beloved.
And that would satiate him until the day the family was allowed to reunite for all eternity.
'Wait for me, Usako.'
~o~o~o~
A/N: Oh, the angst! This is totally depressing me, and I'm already moping enough as it is. My computer may need to have its system wiped because of a stupid virus *shakes fist at the losers who have no life but to make others miserable with Internet worms*. NOOO my music! My pictures! My livelihood! Seriously, guys, my laptop is my release. You all better pray nothing bad happens or we could have some serious delays *gulp*.
A friendly review might help cheer me up...?
-AngelMoon Girl
