The Good News: I'm back! With a story focusing on an alternate reality of the Silver Millenium. I've always wanted to bring it back to the Golden Days, but I was never really sure how.

The Bad News: I'm probably going to take down Moving On. I don't think I'll ever have the gumption to finish it and I've grown so much as a writer that every time I go back to correct it, I cringe. Sorry fans!

The Age of Enlightenment grew from observing the Royal Wedding and the place of monarchy in modern government. Essentially, the story is a clash of the new and the old world, obviously with a little romance and drama. Other than that, you'll just have to read to find out more!

I have the next two chapters written and I'm beginning on the third. I usually don't like to post unfinished stories, but I have a good feeling about this one! I have the outline finished, it's just a matter of writing the darn thing. As always, reviews always jump start my thinking process!

Super Bad News: I still don't own Sailor Moon.

Prologue

"Ma, I don't want to go."

"Endymion, you're going, whether you like it or not. You are the crowned prince! The royal family has a son your age; it won't be so bad."

"Yeah, but I bet he's a wimp like the rest of them."

"ENDYMION!" The Queen of Earth dragged her adolescent son towards the dining hall. He had been hiding in the armory, trying to avoid entertaining the Lunar Royalty.

The queen reached a set of steel doors and waved her hand, signaling them to open, revealing a large dining hall. The floors were made of wood, the walls of marble and stone, while the ceiling was made of glass and allowed the setting sun to display a brilliant canopy for their dinner.

"My only son, Prince Endymion William Terra the fourth, heir to the throne of Earth." He bowed deeply to the guests while his mother walked around him, heading to her seat. He kept his head hung as he walked to the seat next to his mother. "He took a little long in the bath." Endymion could hear his cousin Neal snicker towards the end of the table.

"It's very nice to meet you, Prince Endymion," a soft voice said to him. He looked up to see a tall, fairy-like woman sitting across from him. She was incredibly pale with the softest lavender eyes. Her dress was silver and light blue, wings jutting out from the back. The most extraordinary thing about her was her white hair, which was tied in two buns atop her head with two chunks of hair tumbling down. She looked like an angel.

"Your majesty," Endymion acknowledged the Queen of the Moon.

"My husband, King Taiyo." The King was seated to the Queen's right, nearest to the King of Earth, Endymion's father, despite being the lesser of the lunar royals. On the Moon, first born females were allowed to inherit the throne, as Queen Selenity had done. Endymion thought it odd, how could a girl run an entire network of satellites? Regardless, King Taiyo had golden hair and sky blue eyes and was slightly taller than Endymion's father, although much leaner.

"This is my son, Prince Apollo of the Lunar Kingdoms, heir apparent to the throne." Endymion looked to the boy sitting to the left of her. Unlike what he had originally thought, Apollo was tall for his age, which was probably slightly older than Endymion's 11 years. His hair was a golden blond that came down to his chin, unlike Endymion's dark, short hair. His eyes were like his mother's though, a light lavender that had an eerie effect when you made eye contact.

"And finally my daughter, Princess Serenity." She motioned across the table to Endymion's right. Seated next to him was a little girl, around the age of four or five. She was incredibly tiny and wore a light pink dress with an endless amount of frills. Her hair was in pigtails atop her head. Her hair was platinum blond, almost silver. She looked at Endymion with sky blue eyes that matched her father's. In her lap was a tattered cat stuffed animal. He nodded his head to her. The little girl stood atop her seat and curtseyed to him, in the process losing her balance and nearly tumbling off the chair. Endymion was quick to stop this and she fell on top of him.

"Serenity!" was the cry from her mother as she stood in her seat. "Darling!" King Taiyo was out of his seat and coming around the head of the table when the sniffles started and got progressively louder.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Endymion tried to console her. They were crouched on the floor. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"No, I…I lost my Luna!" she cried out, big fat tears pouring from her eyes.

"I'll find her!" Endymion said gallantly. He quickly began looking around while King Taiyo picked up the tiny princess and consoled her. Endymion crawled under the table and spotted the cat splayed a few feet way. He reached out his hand and grabbed its foot, pulling it to him. He popped up from under the table at King Taiyo's side and held the stuffed animal out for the girl. "Here!" Serenity's eyes lit up and she looked at Endymion with the biggest smile, quickly grabbing her precious Luna.

"What do you say Serenity?"

"Thank you," she said in a hushed tone. King Taiyo nodded and started walking back to his seat, the small princess in his arms. Endymion climbed back into his seat and looked down at his plate, embarrassed.

"No!" Serenity said vehemently, starting to wiggle in her father's arms. He put her down and she ran back to her seat. She pushed it up next to Endymion's and climbed back onto it. "I'm sitting with Demion." Endymion turned an even brighter red.

"Oh you are?" the Earthen Queen asked her. "Then who am I sitting with?" Serenity pointed at the King of Earth, who chuckled.

"Who cares who were sitting with, where's the food!" At his call the servants filtered the hall with hot plates of all shapes and sizes and put them throughout the table, where the King of Earth, his family, and his political aristocracy sat with the Lunar Royalty. Endymion began loading up his plate with food and looked towards his elbow. Serenity was staring around at all the food, but with none on her plate.

"Here, you can have mine," Endymion stated, switching her empty plate with his. Those big eyes looked at him again and he smiled this time as she quickly dug in with her miniscule silverware. He loaded up another plate and did the same. The heads of state were talking politics while Endymion started up a conversation with Apollo about the newest battle simulators. Serenity kept to herself, eating the food on her plate and occasionally playing with her stuffed animal.

By the end of dessert, Endymion and Apollo had agreed to go have a duel later the next day and Serenity's drowsy head was moving closer and closer to Endymion's shoulder.

"Your majesty," Queen Selenity called out in such a toned that caused everyone at the table to become silent. "I'm afraid our lovely party will be losing a guest very soon." She motioned to her daughter who's head was now firmly on Endymion's shoulder. "If you'll excuse me for a moment." The Queen stood and glided over to her offspring and bent down to pick her up, which caused Serenity to wake up.

"I don't wanna go to bed," Serenity told her mother.

"But don't you want to go see all the pretty flowers I told you about tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Then you need to go to sleep." Serenity reluctantly nodded her head.

"I want to walk."

"You? Want to walk?" Selenity answered amused.

"I want Demion to walk with me to my room, like a Prince," Serenity told her.

"Well, you'll have to ask him, won't you?" Serenity turned her pleading eyes on him and Endymion's widened.

"Okay," he reluctantly agreed. He got up from his chair and held out his hand, which Serenity grabbed ecstatically. He walked stiffly out of the room, trying to keep some manliness to his walk as Serenity skipped along beside him, Luna dangling in her other hand. Queen Selenity followed closely behind them.

"Will you come with me to the flowers tomorrow, Demion?"

"I can't, I'm having a duel with your brother."

"You don't want to come with me?"

"No…I just was gonna do something else."

"Why?"

"Because I want to."

"Why?"

"I go into the gardens all the time!"

"But I don't! We only have fake flowers on the moon!"

"What?"

"They're fake, metal flowers. They never change," she informed him. Her hand was still clutching his as they walked down the hall.

"Serenity, maybe you can see Endymion another time," her mother told her. "He has plans with Apollo tomorrow."

"Apollo gets to do everything, I get to do nothing!" Endymion could hear the tears creeping in her voice. "He gets to stay at dinner, and I have to go to bed-."

"I can take you to see the roses!" Endymion interrupted her. "They're my favorite."

"Okay!" Serenity squealed.

"These are our rooms, Serenity," her mother called out, halting at a door. Serenity and Endymion stopped also.

"Well…good night princess. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Serenity was up on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek before he knew what was happening. Selenity picked her up soon after and walked inside.

"Good night young prince, do you need me to escort you back to the hall?" Queen Selenity asked with a quirky smile on her face.

"No…No," he answered, forgetting his manners. She nodded and shut the door. Endymion quickly dashed to his rooms. He opened his door and ran to his bed, burying his head in his pillows. What was that little girl's problem? You couldn't just kiss people, everyone knew that! And now he probably had moon cooties. Endymion brushed at his cheek repeatedly. He stayed in his prone position for a while, replaying the mortification in his head when he heard it.

"Oh, Demion!" the taunting voice came. His cousin Jace was the first one in, followed by Neal. "I think someone has a girlfriend!"

"I do not!" Endymion countered. "She's just a stupid girl!"

"Yeah, but you gave her your food! And then you held hands with her!"

"My mother was mad at me!"

"Whatever, you are in love with a cry baby moon kid-."

"Are you guys talking about my sister?" a voice asked. Apollo was at Endymion's open door, a blanket and a pillow in his hand. Jace immediately shut his mouth and walked behind Endymion. Neal stayed to the front of Endymion, quietly observing the Moon Prince. "She's usually really shy around people she just meets. And she can get really annoying. I was gonna ask if I could stay with you guys tonight instead of her but…" he trailed off. He turned and walked away.

"Wait!" Endymion called after him. "You can stay here with us!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll have the robots bring up another bed!" Apollo smiled and looked at Endymion with his creepy eyes before moving around him and disappearing into the room. Endymion was about to follow suit when his mother called out to him, coming from around the corner towards his door.

"Mom?" She walked next to him and knelt down so they were closer in height. "Am I grounded or something?"

"No, not at all!" she informed him, a look of surprise spreading on his face. "The way you treated little Serenity tonight…she wanted to sit by you, you know."

"I know. She didn't want to go with her dad."

"No, what I mean is, before the night even started she wanted to sit near you. Why do you think I came and found you? And her mother just told me that you agreed to take her to the rose garden tomorrow."

"Do I have to? I just did that so she wouldn't cry."

"You can spare a half an hour tomorrow from your cousins and the Moon Prince."

"You don't want me to marry her, do you?"

"No! I just want you to keep her entertained because it makes everyone happy. Unlike the Moon Queen, I wasn't blessed with two children." She kissed the top of his head. "But I'm very proud of my only one. Run along, the boys will be wondering where you are." Endymion did so, a big smile on his face.

"Can we go to the rose gardens again?"

"You always pick to go there; do you want to go on the lake? I have a new boat," Endymion informed his charge. The Moon family was making their annual visit to Earth and he had to do his annual afternoon with Princess Serenity. Now sixteen, he hated entertaining the ten year old petulant princess.

"I like the rose garden, we don't have-."

"Real flowers on the Moon, I know," he told her, rolling his eyes. "You tell me every year."

"Then why do you forget?"

"I don't!"

"Come on!" Serenity told him, grabbing his hand, which he quickly pulled away. "Endy!"

"Don't call me that!" he snapped. "And we're not holding hands."

"Why not? You're my prince," Serenity told him.

"I'm not your prince, I'm no one's prince!" he stomped farther ahead towards the gardens. Serenity quickly followed him.

"Why are you being so mean to me?" He ignored that question. He quickly led them to the fountain at the middle of the rose garden, Serenity's favorite part, and plopped down on a bench there. All of his cousins and Prince Apollo were currently at the hover car races, betting on the entrants and flirting with hot girls. He was stuck with a ten year old who was trying to pet the small goldfish in the fountain.

"Can you please help me and catch one, like you did last year?" Serenity begged him, turning her eyes on his; that look, those big sky eyes looking at him with the most honest expression.

"Okay." He walked over to a sack on the ground filled with fish food and took a pinch, putting it in his hand. He lowered it into the water and an unassuming fish crept up to it. He slowly lifted his hand up until there was only an inch of water, enough for the fish to breathe in but close enough that Serenity could touch it. She looked up at him with her big, innocent smile, which caused him to smile too.

"You're so good at it."

"I've had a lot of practice, you try." Endymion lowered his hand back down into the water and dumped the fish food out. He withdrew his hand from the water completely and reached in the bag and got out a pinch of fish food and put it in her hand. He held her tiny hands in his growing hands and lowered them into the water, holding them there. One of the white goldfish swam up to the food and Endymion slowly started bringing her hand up.

"Prince Endymion!" a voice shouted. "You are coming?" Endymion suddenly let go of Serenity's hands and withdrew them, wiping it on his uniform. He looked up to see Jace running towards them. He bowed to the princess first and turned back to Endymion. "Sorry I'm late; I was hoping someone was still behind."

"Well…" Endymion trailed off, considering the consequences. He had been caught in the act. He had told Neal and Apollo earlier that he wasn't going due to a lingering cough. Now, it was either piss off his mother or enjoy a night of immense teasing for hanging out with the princess.

"He was just showing me how to catch fish," Serenity told Jace. "He was waiting for you."

"Well then, let's go man, the ladies are waiting!"

"I…I," Endymion stuttered. "Yeah, we should probably get going." He stood up from his seated position and smoothed out his uniform. Serenity stayed seated, looking down at her lap where she was fiddling with her fingers. "Nice talking to you Serenity." He walked off with Jace.

"Does your mom still make you go on dates with Serenity?"

"What! We don't go on dates man, she's ten!"

"Coulda fooled me with the googly eyes you had for her!"

"Ew, no, I don't like little girls," he responded, pushing Jace into a rose bush filled with thorns. The two laughed at their antics.

A big fat tear crept slowly down Serenity's cheek and into the fountain where a goldfish crept, thinking it was food.

Serenity lay in her bed on the moon, desperately trying to find a dry spot on her pillow. It was her sixteenth birthday, a time of celebration. But her ball had been called off, along with all other festivities of the day. Soon, there would be a funeral.

"Princess?" a voice called from the door. It was her cousin, Princess Mina of Venus.

"Mina," she managed to choke out. Mina was at her side in a second, rubbing her back and whispering soothing words to her. "Was it a dream?"

"I'm…I'm afraid not Sere. I'm so, so sorry." Serenity let out a fresh sob as non-existent tears burned her eyelids.

"Why? Why would someone do this?" Serenity screamed out. "Those foolish Earthlings!"

"Serenity, the King of Earth was killed on the shuttle too! They're still investigating."

"We were just starting to get our kingdoms back on track and Apollo…" Serenity trailed off, being wracked by sobs once more.

"Serenity, at least you still have your mother! Thank goodness she decided to stay behind for your birthday!"

"My father and my brother are dead! All of a sudden I am the heir presumptive of a throne I never wanted!" Serenity screamed. Mina was taken back and stopped rubbing her back. "From now on my life is going to be delegation after delegation, eligible bachelor after consort; constant nagging by my mother, as if it wasn't already bad enough, all without the help of my brother or my father!" Mina got up from her seated position on the bed and watched as Serenity tossed and turned in her bed.

"Maybe you should go see her Sere. It would make you both feel better."

"Don't worry; I watched her speech on television. I don't want to talk to her right now."

"Sere, she's the leader of your nation! She had to appear under control, I'm sure she's just as torn up as you, if not more! My mother is with her right now. Artemis has assumed daily duties for the time being, until your mother feels better. But I've got the Earthen diplomacy calling incessantly wishing to speak to a member of the Lunar Royal Family and I don't have the heart to go ask your mother." Serenity took in several breaths, taking in what Mina had to say. She was right; the world was going on around her temporarily frozen atmosphere.

"I want a phonographic conversation. No holograms."

"Yes, your majesty."

"Mina, don't call me that." Mina helped Serenity out of her bed and to the communication tower, providing the majority of support for the fallen Princess. "Who am I speaking with?"

"I believe it's Prince Endymion, or one of his consorts."

"Great, that jerk."

"Sere, be nice, he just lost his father too."

"Whatever, I bet he was chomping at the bit to inherit the throne anyway. Pompous, conceited, stupid-"

"Serenity, stop!"

"He probably planned the whole thing." Mina stopped walking and turned Serenity to face her.

"Don't be ridiculous! You're not the only person who lost someone today! I lost a cousin and an uncle, a prince and a king! Exchange a few lines, enough to issue a joint statement, and then we can get you something to eat and get you back into bed."

"Where are the others?" Serenity whispered.

"Raye is with the investigating team, Amy is helping to analyze the parts of the ship that made it out of the blast, and Lita is with Artemis, seeing to the daily chores." Serenity nodded. Mina lowered her into a seat in the communication tower and played with some dials. Finally having everything cued up, she turned to her cousin. "Sere, I've never seen you so regal. You're going to be a great Queen. Thank you, for doing this." Serenity nodded, afraid that if she uttered a syllable to Mina she would begin crying again. Mina gripped her shoulders firmly before heading out of the room.

"Your highness?" a male voice called out. "This is Prince Endymion of Earth, seeking to make contact over the recent assassinations." His words were garbled at the end, either because of poor signal strength or emotion, Serenity couldn't tell.

"This is Princess Serenity of the Lunar Kingdoms, please continue your majesty."

"I recommend that while this investigation is ongoing, travel between our planets by members of the royal family be prohibited for safety purposes. Next I recommend that we make a joint statement, denying rumors that government action caused these attacks. Finally, I motion that you declare your intention to become the new heir presumptive to avoid any succession confusion."

"Endymion…" she trailed off, dropping any royal title. "I can't do it."

"Can't do what?" his worried voice came.

"This. I can't take it. I'm so scared."

"Serenity, there's nothing to be scared of. I'm uncertain myself, but your people, my people, need to hear conviction from us. Justice."

"You've always been destined for the supreme throne, I haven't! And I was happy with that!"

"You need to do what's right for your kingdom."

"What's right for my kingdom! What about me? What about the fact that half of my family was wiped out in an instant!" The anger was boiling up again.

"And half of mine wasn't?" he countered. "Unfortunately, we bear the burden of setting an example."

"And someone did set an example, with a fission bomb!"

"Stop being a teenage girl and start behaving as an adult and a member of the Lunar Royal Family!" Endymion scolded her. "You don't think I'm suffering?"

"Oh, you're probably really suffering Endymion, and you'll crawl back into your bed with your newest toy and have her suffer with you!"

"Is that what this is about?"

"Talk about setting the example!"

"What I do in my private life is not and has never been any of your business!" That silenced Serenity's rage and made her lean back into her chair, a fresh batch of sobs tugging at her stomach, throats, and eyes. "Sere…I'm so sorry. I wish…I wish Apollo hadn't decided to go with your father."

"Why didn't you go?"

"I had the Martian Flu."

"Couldn't have given it to Apollo?"

"Serenity, please," his voice softened. "I lost one of my best friends and my father yesterday. And I don't think it's set in yet. Not only that, but the attack came from Earth."

"Endymion, I have to go. I have to go to my mother."

"Do you agree though, with my political statement?"

"Yes, I'll announce my succession to the throne in a few hours and I'll have Artemis issue the joint statement on Lunar television. And I won't bother you anymore." She quickly ended the transmission between them after that comment. These days, dealing with Endymion was near impossible for her. Sixteen was a weird enough age without an adolescent crush making you feel even more awkward. At least one tiny consolation had come out of the largest tragedy of her life.

She wouldn't see Endymion for the next six years.