A/N : To SerenityPixxe on Tumblr - Happy Secret USA/MAMO FIC exchange, I hope you enjoy! Thanks to The Rising Phoenix and RPQ for looking this over, and Floraone and IdesofNovember for listening to me panic about writing this.

Serenity giggled, ducking under the thick brush in the absolute thinnest of robes, clutching the firm hand of her lover right behind her. Endymion, who was a full head taller, and had to block his face from branches that Serenity barely avoided, trying not to trip on thick underbrush, or get tangled in Serenity' silver long hair which seemed to catch on every little piece of nature- including himself.

He'd barely had a moment to adjust to the Lunar world before she launched herself forward into the forest. The forest rushed by: the soft pastels of its nature, the iridescent glow as blue earthlight hit off wide leaves, roots difficult to see under the thick brush of grass. He fumbled in the unfamiliarity, while Serenity dodged all manner of nature's obstacles, and if he'd stopped her she'd tell him the trail was just far too easy, and not as romantic.

Just moments before she'd yanked him out of a blissful sleep in his chambers on earth, as she sometimes did. Appearing ethereal in those translucent robes in his window, moonlight silhouetting his view with an outstretched hand. He couldn't question that call, when that shining, glowing maiden with perfect skin and ocean eyes appeared. He didn't care if he was seen or where they went, he didn't ponder the magic as they disappeared to her kingdom, as if there wasn't a vast amount of airless space between their kingdoms. His heart sang when their hands touched, his mind felt at ease, he was home in her arms and nothing else mattered.

Endymion followed breathlessly with a few questions, and if he uttered one between breaths she just laughed or shook her head, turning back, that crescent moon shining brightly in the light, before continuing through the brush. "We must hurry" She emphasized. He could hear the sound of rushing water getting closer, the air filling with a fine myst. It was much further out than he'd ventured with her before- she usually kept him close to the palace. It had been his understanding she was suppose to stay close to the palace.

Serenity never followed rules, he knew this, and yet she would surprise him with her impulsivity and little explanation, expecting him to follow. And he did. She was the only one he'd ever follow.

The dense nature ended abruptly into a large clearing,the trees cut away to lush flowers and pale lavender grasses, ending into a shoreline of clearest water he'd seen, so clear it might as well not be there. The lake met the bottom of a large waterfall, crystalline rock structure moving high into the sky. He hadn't seen it from the forest ground, the soft pastel crystals organically growing out of the wall, casting flickers of light split into prisms all around.

He took in the magnificence of the scene, so alien and so beautiful. After a moment his eyes naturally fell on her standing there, poised, as if a statue, looking up at where the water began to fall. When she froze like that, she was in thought, transitioning to whatever was next. In just a moment there was so much to see, He knew that face, those pink lips in just a hint of a smile as she took in her surroundings. He saw the flecks of multicolored light as they caressed her face, how her skin glowed underneath the mist. He could see her body, clearly defined under what little she'd chosen to wear, how could he not notice perfection of the female form? He could see how the thin near translucent fabric hugged her frame, he could see her breathing quickly as she caught her breath. He wanted to speak and yet he was transfixed.

She broke her gaze from the falls, turning towards him just as fast as she had stopped, wide smile on her face and she took a step towards him, swaying her hips. She knew he was watching her, and she owned it as she owned this entire system, confident, strong, so secure.

"What do you think?" She asked, eyes meeting his, daring him to look elsewhere.

"You're beautiful." He placed his hands on her shoulders

She smiled, and leaned her head against his hand. "No, this place, Endymion" There was a little bit of a teasing chide, which he could not take offence in, though he scoffed a little to flirt, "how could I notice anything but you when you're wearing so little?"

"Earth insistence on clothes is formality that we do not have to follow here, Endymion. What do you think of this place?" She asked again.

He did break his eyes from her, and he knew this place must have some significance or she wouldn't have brought him here.

"Where are we?"

She looked back at the waterfall for a moment before actually answering, the suave certainty flickered for a moment.

"The Pool of truth."

"Truth?"

She nodded, "It is magic, this whole place. In its water, one can only speak the truth. Now that we are here, no one can follow us."

"Why?"

She didn't answer for a moment hands tracing his shirt to his collar unbuttoning the top button of loose linen shirt he'd worn to bed, her eyes looking into his deep questioning ones. Between them hung the unspoken question if she actually trusted him or not, but he didn't dare ask, too princely to admit that kind of vulnerability.

"It is not for us to judge others, it is to allow us to know the truth in ourselves." She supplied, recited in a sort of lilt that she used when relaying wisdom from her mother, told to her through the generations. She moved to the next button, soft touches against his chest.

He clasped her hands, stopping her. "What?"

Serenity bit her lip then, breaking the intense eye contact to look back over the water. "The pool allows us to tell ourselves the things we fear or hide from ourselves, the things we lock away. I don't need to ask you about your loyalty Endymion- I know you, your heart, I feel it, I see it, I trust it. I trust you."

"Then-" Serenity leaned into him, head nuzzling into his chest hugging him tight.

"Because I think you need to know. And, I do have questions, but only if your willing to know, but I really think the key is to express- your own self. I have come here on my own, to find what I sought. And I have my answers. And I don't like them, but I know and acknowledge my truth."

She stepped back, her hands sliding along his arms until her hands met his own "Come?"

She let go, in a fluid movement the sheer robe fell off her shoulders, fluttering to the ground.

She took a slow purposeful step over it towards the shore before touching the water.

He stared, her lythe body all grace and beauty, hair shimmering around her as she walked back not breaking eye contact.

"Cold!" She squealed leaping back towards him into his arms. She looked at the pool accusingly from his chest. Endymion laughed, a deep booming laugh that he rarely let escape and he held her close, "Dearest Princess" his voice fluttered in her ears and left goosebumps down her arms.

She stuck her tongue out at him, before the moment passed back into seriousness. "Will you come?" Her voice had a little bit of doubt, she'd noticed he hadn't moved a step.

In a fluid movement picked her up and jumped into the pool with a loud splash. She pressed herself against him, squealing and laughing and working on his shirt again, but the buttons were more difficult now that the fabric soaked up water, and she sort of fumbled. "You got your clothes all wet, silly prince" before moving strands of thick dark waterlogged hair out of his eyes, and his hand met hers again at the side of his face.

"Didn't you say that clothes were a formality?" He whispered mere centimeters from her lips, moving in for a kiss.

She stepped back just slightly, "A formality I thought you'd leave at the shore, I must return you to your chambers before your morning comes...it is my duty as your escort in my land."

"I am not in need of an escort."

She laughed again at his serious face and heavy hair and how his shirt clung to his body form fitting and incredibly sexy as it outlined his physique. She did kiss him then, deep pushing herself against him in the water, and he lost his balance on the bottom and he fell backwards with her. They were a mess of limbs and kisses until their need for oxygen brought them back above the waterline.

It was considerably warmer than it had been just a second before. He hummed in sort of affirmation to her, his hands making it way to the small of her back. He could see how her hair floated out on the water, almost to the shore, it taking on a bit of the colors of the world around her.

She continued to try and work on his shirt, and he placed his hands on her to tease "But this place is ceremonial is it not?"

"Not after today I suppose."

He snorted, and she began to unbutton again.

"Clothes aren't part of the tradition, Endymion." She admonished.

"Oh?"

"What hides ourselves more than the things we veil our bodies with?"

"Rationality." He answered, and he looked sort of surprised.

"Your truth." She supplied, "This place brings out the things we do not like to think about."

He didn't answer, peeling off the rest of his shirt and throwing it towards the shore.

This time, she took a moment to appreciate the prince and every defined psychical feature.

"I have to ask why you brought me here?"

"You do. It's complicated … layered."

"That is a non answer, Serenity."

"Indeed."

She swam away for a moment, backwards before treading water in the deepest part of the pool. "I...we're royalty- we are born and raised to not show who we are, and this place... it doesn't allow us to be practiced, to do what we've been taught. I know the answers of the court almost better than I know myself. What I should say, what I can say and who I am are three distinct selves, and the last is the one I forget to express. And, I know I have a far easier time than you. "

"Oh?"

"Serenity shook her head. "It's not...sometimes I see glimpses, of a carefree boy and he's beautiful. When you let go and I see your humor and your wit. When you stop planning and start doing…That is the man I fell in love with…. " She sort of trailed off, and Endymion wasn't any clearer on what she was trying to discern in this place.

"What to you want to know?"

"Everything. I want to know what your afraid of, I want to know when you were really embarrassed, I want to know what you like, what touch is your favorite, I want to know just so many things. But, there is one question that's more important than the rest, and that's why we are here."

He shifted in the water, a little bit taller with a slight nod. She saw it, and acknowledged by asking "Who are you without the crown Endymion?"

"That's a hell of a question. Why?"

"Because- this- us" She pointed at the two of them "risks everything and we need to know who we are. So I ask again, who are you without your crown?"

"How can I know when you came into my life and threw everything into question? My loyalties? My dreams? My people? I thought I knew my destiny, my path, my future, and yet I stared into the moonlight and found a whole new captivating world. I found you." He swam towards her, still tall enough to touch the bottom before caressing her face.

She leaned into his hand, cradling it with her own. He could see tears as they streamed down her face silently, and he paused. "Sere-"

"What if the cost of this is who we are? That we lose our titles, our names, all of it?"

"Is that even possible? You're-"

"I don't know but the stakes are war Endymion."

" I am defined by loving you, it is more intrinsic to me than any title, any kingdom, any friend or foe. Is that what you wanted to know?"

Serenity shook her head. "It's not…I don't think you understand how much I trust you..." She sort of trailed off, and Endymion wasn't any clearer on what she was trying to discern in this place.

"Serenity..who are you?"

The tears sprang to her eyes. "I know, I know I am betraying them- my mother, my senshi, my people. I know it every single day, and no matter what I know I will always chose you. I came here on my own - and no matter the scenario, no matter how dark I don't care enough about them to chose differently as long as I'm with you. As long as you are with me…" She had turned her head in shame, hiding her face.

"Sere...please...look at me?"

"How can I not love them?"

"But you do, don't you see that? Every person, every flower, every animal, you love them all so much it hurts you to even think that maybe you have priorities, that maybe some types of love are different, maybe that some type of love is more essential than the others, so to speak. It is tearing you apart and you haven't even done anything, made any choices..."

"But, I brought you here, it is a declaration as much as it is exploration."

"What do you even mean?"

"I...its tradition? Before one royal weds another they are to come here, as a final determination... In general, there would be a public ceremony where you would declare you intentions to the kingdom, and the Queen would question you, but our circumstances…"

"You wish to wed?"

Serenity sort of froze wide eyes as if she didn't quite mean to say that in that way, that she had, cheeks becoming flush the red standing out dramatically against her skin. She gave the tiniest of nods.

He didn't speak, just crossed the distance between them and kissed her, pressing his lips into hers, cradling the back of her head, supporting all of her weight. Deep, long, passionate, wordless, full of promise and commitment and connection.

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