I Really Loved You

Long, long ago, on the planet of the moon, a young maiden and her elder sister lived in her peaceful world. They were simple milk maids in the kingdom of the moon. The younger maiden had black hair and purple eyes. Her name was Beryl. She had the simple life of a commoner in the Silver Millennium. She was remotely happy with her life but she still longed for someone to love. But then one day, her life changed.

It was an afternoon like no other. The prince of earth had come to visit the queen. He was to settle the trading feud that had been occurring for the past month or so. He was leaving the castle to return to his ship when a war cry was heard. Apparently some rebels of the moon did not agree with the peace between the earth and the moon. They were running through the crowd towards the prince. The prince looked back and began to run towards his ship.

Suddenly, more men appeared in front of him. He ran into an alley where he was caught by the dead end. He turned towards the men and pulled out his sword. He fought valiantly but he was greatly outnumbered. He soon fell to the ground. The men presumed that he was dead and left the seen.

As it were to happen, the black haired maiden passed by the alley after the men had left. She peered down the way and gasped. The prince, bloodied up from his battle, was crouched in the corner still breathing. She ran to the man and kneeled beside him. She tore the hem of her dress and began to wrap the man’s wounds. As she healed him, she began to fall in love with him. But alas, this man was the prince of earth and she was a mere milk maid. She knew that her love would remain unrequited, but she still cared for him.

She stayed there till the sky grew dark. When she knew the men who harmed him were long gone, she went to her home and brought her wheelbarrow. She placed the prince in the wheelbarrow and, with all her strength, pushed him to the palace. She entered the royal gardens and placed him onto the grass and continued to take care of him.

She heard a rustling in a bush and fled into another bush, fearing that it was a guard. Out of the bush, she saw a young girl, about the same age as herself, walk over to the prince. The girl had silvery white hair in two odangos. The prince’s eyes flickered open as he saw the silver haired maiden watching over him. He whispered a small thank you before falling out of consciousness. Beryl knew that the prince would be taken care of properly inside the palace walls so she left.

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A few years pass and Beryl longs to see the earth prince once again. At last, she goes deep into the nearby forest and finds the legendary witch of the moon, Metaria. She begs the witch to cast a spell to make him fall in love with her. The witch says that she can only make a promise. In exchange for her voice, she will cast a spell on the prince so that if he marries her, he will forever be loyal. But that will only happen if the prince loves and marries her. If the prince marries another, Beryl will die alone and broken hearted the next morning.

Beryl agrees to the terms and the spell is cast. Beryl loses her voice but is transported to the earth. The prince finds her and takes her to the palace. he is attracted to her by her beauty and her loving personality but he loves her as one would love a child. Beryl tries everything to make him love her like a wife.

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The time comes when the king decides that the prince is to marry the moon princess. The prince tells Beryl that he will not marry the moon princess because he does not love her. He can only love the young girl who once saved his life, the girl who unfortunately was a simple maid of the moon queen. He also tells her that she is beginning to take the maid's place in his heart.

However, when the prince and the moon princess meet, he sees her silver hair and recognizes it to be the same as the maiden who saved him. It turns out that the princess had only dressed as a maid to escape her lessons. The prince confesses his love for her and the wedding is announced.

The earth prince and moon princess are married and Beryl's heart breaks. She thinks of all that she has given up in order to be with the prince, her beautiful voice, her wonderful home, her loving family, her life, and of all the pain that she has suffered.

She wallows in her misery, but before dawn her elder sister from the moon comes to her and gives her a knife that Metaria has given her in exchange for her hair. If Beryl slays the prince with the knife she will be able to return to the moon again with her voice and be able to live out the rest of her life there.

But Beryl cannot bring herself to kill the sleeping prince lying with his bride. She realizes that she is truly happy that he has found his true love and that he is happy. She couldn’t kill him only so she can live out the rest of her life in despair over her lost love. She hurls the knife into the forest and as dawn breaks, she throws herself into the sea. She dies with a smile on her face, knowing that she left a mark on his heart; and only if she had a little more time, they could be together.

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This story is based off of the original Little Mermaid (not the disney version).

diclaimer:

the little mermaid (c) Hans Christian Andersen

beryl, the earth prince (endymion), the moon princess/maid (serenity), metaria (c) Naoko Takeuchi