This is my third fan fic, so I'm already happy that I got past one and 
two (Forgotten Lore & Deceived Hearts.)  THIS STORY WILL NOT AFFECT 
ANY FURTHER FAN FICS (ESPECIALLY THE DEATHS OF SOME CHARACTERS) This 
story takes place after Reenie appears (and after my first fan fic, 
Forgotten Lore), but before, "Sibling Rivalry,"(the last English dubbed
 episode before the seventeen new ones that conclude the R series.)  
By the way...STOP THE DUB BASHING!

Disclaimer: Most of the materials in this story aren't mine and you may 
not agree with my story line or plot or the new characters that I added 
to blend with the original...but that isn't important to put in a 
disclaimer.  Anyway, whatever is copyrighted isn't mine, but some big 
company's with a lot of (possibly angry) employees.  Enjoy the story.


                          Blind Faith

                  by Beth (Chasewlf@aol.com)
      http://www.angelfire.com/ny/chasehomepage/index.html
          http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Palace/7120


Chapter 1

	Smiling broadly, the blonde girl strolled down the hallway 
towards Darien's apartment.  "Tick, tock.  Tick, tock.  Time to die.  
Time to die," she said in a singsongy voice.  The glee coating her words 
was eerie and misplaced, but she continued chanting until she reached the
 apartment with the name Chiba on the door.  Still grinning, the girl 
knocked twice and paused, waiting for Darien to come to the door.  
Shuffling feet approached the other side of the door, and the locks 
clicked as they were opened.  The door's hinges screamed loudly, almost 
as if they were a warning of the impending doom.  Suddenly, a familiar 
face appeared in the doorway.  "Hi," Darien said, surprised at the sight 
of his friend.  "Hey Darien!," said the girl, "Just thought you could 
use some company."

	He shrugged, "Sure, why not."  The door protested again, as it 
was pushed open further.  "Hmm, I really should get that fixed," said 
Darien.  The girl only nodded, as she continued to smile.  "She looks like 
a rabid girl scout," thought Darien, almost laughing.  "She's probably just 
stressed out."  "Want some hot chocolate?," he asked.  "Sure!," she replied 
cheerily.  A shiver went up and down Darien's spine.  "This definitely isn't 
like her," he thought as he walked into the kitchen to make some hot 
chocolate.  The girl continued to smile, even after Darien left her sight.  
Her thoughts all revolved around one notion.  All she wanted was to see the 
surprised look on his face when he finally realized his fate would end here.  
Smiling, she stroked the silencer pistol in her pocket.  The psychotic tune 
she had been singing echoed in her mind, and her grin crept higher with each 
verse.

	Darien smiled as he came out with two mugs of hot chocolate.  Another 
chill crept through his body, and he forced himself to concentrate on 
balancing the hot beverages.  "Is anything wrong?," his guest asked, still 
grinning.  "No, I'm fine," he said simply as he set the drinks down on the 
coffee table.  His heart sunk into his stomach as she continued to smile; it 
wasn't her usual smile.  It was a cold, dead smile that made his skin prickle 
and his heart race.  It was then that he wished he'd never opened the door for 
her company.  Quietly, she pushed the blonde hair from her eyes, smoothed her 
odangos, and sipped the last hot chocolate Darien would ever make for her.

	Watching him with an eagle's eye, she put her mug down and headed 
towards the kitchen.  "Be right back," she said cheerily, "I have to wash the 
blood off my hands."  Almost instantly, she stepped back through the doorway.  
"Oops, forgot...No blood yet."  The grin grew wider as the pistol aimed at 
Darien's shocked form and fired.  The bullet caught him right in the stomach, 
causing him to double over in pain.  Panting, he tried in vain to scream.  
"Shh, don't want to wake the baby.  Reenie's trying to sleep."  Almost 
effortlessly and without any emotion, she delivered the death blow.  Dropping 
the gun back into her pocket, she walked into the kitchen to wash her hands.

Chapter 2

	The six girls gleefully walked towards Darien's apartment.  Serena 
walked slightly ahead of everyone, with Mina, Katarina, Lita close behind and 
Amy and Raye trailing slightly behind.  "Hopefully, it'll only take a minute," 
said Serena.  "Then we can go pick up Katzy and her sisters."  None of them were 
in school uniforms, they were all dressed in comfortable tee-shirts, shorts and 
skirts.  Chattering loudly, the group made their way down the hall towards 
Darien's apartment.  Serena knocked on the door and waited for him to come to 
the door.  No one answered.  "That's odd," said the girl with golden odangos, 
"he should be home by now."  "Did you tell him we were coming?," asked Katarina.  
"Of course not!," retorted Serena.  "Still, this is really unlike Darien," 
mumbled Amy, "Something must have happened."  "I'm getting some strange 
vibrations," said Raye as her head shot up.  "Time to transform?," asked Mina.  
"Mmm-hmm," nodded Serena.

"Moon Crystal Power!"
"Mars Star Power!"
"Jupiter Star Power!"
"Mercury Star Power!"
"Venus Star Power!"
"Fish Star Power!"

	"Jupiter Thunder...Crash!"  The door blew open and the six scouts stepped 
inside.  "Oh my..." Serena suddenly went pale and sank to her knees.  Each of the 
scouts were transformed back into their normal apparel.  "But how?," yelled Mina 
as she gasped in disbelief.  All of the scouts were as white as bleached sheets 
and were holding on to various objects for support.  Katarina sank into a chair, 
noticeably nauseated.  Amy stood against a wall next to Raye, both of them in 
shock.  Lita sank to the floor, cringing at the sight before them.

	With her knees wobbling, Serena bent down, barely keeping her balance to 
try and find a pulse.  Her face whitened even more as she turned back to her 
friends.  "He's...dead," she said in a half whisper.  Between all the blood and 
the turmoil inside her, Serena felt faint.  As if it was a planned drama, she fell 
unconscious on top of her lost love.  Amy's instincts pushed through her shock, 
"Someone, call an ambulance."  She turned around to survey the shallow, red pool 
that surrounded Darien.  Cringing, Amy pulled herself up and walked over to the 
phone with shaky steps.  "Hello?  Operator? Get me the police, it's an emergency."

	Raye had never seen so much blood in her life.  The floor was coated in the 
drying crimson lacquer.  As her eyes fell across Serena, she silently cursed herself 
for not wanting Serena to drag them over to Darien's apartment.  More so, she 
despised herself for saying, "You can make up with him any day!  How often do we get 
a day off to have fun together?"  Her thoughts were interrupted by Amy's strong 
voice.  "They should be here in about twenty minutes.  Until then, we shouldn't touch 
anything."

	Katarina jumped up and ran into the bathroom.  Lita felt a strong wave of 
nausea wash over her as she heard her friend vomiting.  Raye put her clenched hand to 
her head.  "I can't stand the thought of staying here for twenty minutes."  "I'm 
afraid we must," said Amy.  "We've already disturbed the scene quite a bit."  Everyone 
turned towards Darien.  "Especially Serena," added Mina.  The toilet flushed and 
Katarina walked back into the living room,  her head still swimming from the passing 
stomach upheaval.  "So much for a day of fun, huh guys?" They looked towards Mina, but 
no one was in the mood for humor.  Mina shrugged and turned back towards the corpse.

	Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and Amy rose to open it.  As the police 
officers and ambulance attendants filed in, each of their faces contorted to show their 
strong distaste.  The room was already taking on the stench of death as the officers 
approached Darien and the fallen Serena.  "She passed out when she saw him," offered 
Lita.  A brunette, female medic, around thirty nodded and cautioned her collages to be 
careful with the girl.  One of the officers, a veteran of twenty years growled angrily 
at the disturbed scene.  "Great, this'll help in our investigation," muttered the man.  
"Get these kids out of here," he said to his partner.  The younger man nodded and 
hurried the girls out of the room.  "What a mess," said the woman, as Serena was lifted 
onto a gurney.  Snapping rubber gloves onto her hands, she bent down to examine the 
deceased, Darien.

Chapter 3

	The five girls crowded around Serena as one of the paramedics waved smelling 
salts beneath her nose.  She woke up a few seconds later, squirming from the scent.  
She looked around and saw her friends surrounding her.  Looking down, Serena screamed at 
the blood covering her clothes and hair.  Her head shot up.  "Darien!  Is he okay?"  
Everyone avoided looking directly into her eyes.  "No!  We're supposed to live happily 
ever after as king and queen!"  The medic looked at her strangely.  "I think those 
meatballs on her head are finally getting into her brain," covered Raye.  The man nodded, 
"It's common for people to experience delusions after a stressful encounter such as this."  
"Well that's the understatement of the year," said Katarina.  After glaring at Katarina 
momentarily out of annoyance, the man returned to the apartment where Darien's body 
remained."

	"Serena!," Raye screamed, "You almost blew our cover!"  "Leave her alone!," 
returned Lita.  "Yeah, she's been through enough without having to listen to you," agreed 
Katarina.  As Raye looked to Amy and Mina, they nodded, showing their disapproval for Raye's 
reaction.  Too proud to apologize to Serena, she began her long trek back to the temple 
that she held so dear.  They watched Raye go, with anger, sadness  and pity in their hearts.  
Serena broke the awkward silence with her sobs.  Embarrassed for forgetting about their 
friend, the rest of the group turned to comfort Serena and offered their condolences.

Chapter 4

	"Serena sat up and got out of bed.  It was four o'clock in the morning and a week 
after Darien's traumatic death.  Her mussed odangos hung limply on the sides of her head.  
The circles under her eyes grew darker at the passing of each day.  Sleep had become a 
foreign word to the once happy teen.  Luna heard someone stir in the room and looked up.  
"Serena, this isn't healthy, you MUST get some rest!"  "I can't," she said on the brink of 
tears, "Ever since Darien..."  Luna frowned as the proud champion of justice drifted into a 
dead silence.

	Slowly, the cat touched a paw to the girl's arm.  "Serena, you are Sailor Moon.  We 
need you, the world needs you!  Only you can stop the Negaverse!"  "Well maybe I don't care 
about stopping forbidden evils any more!," she shot back.  "I never asked to be Sailor Moon, 
or the Moon Princess!"  She turned away, crying.  "I'm sick of this," Serena said, disgusted.  
"Let the other scouts handle saving the world.  Find a new leader of the Sailor Senshi; I 
quit!"  "Serena!," yelled a surprised Luna.  "You can't be serious!  The scouts can't 
possibly defeat the Negaverse without you!"

	Angrily, Serena threw the moon wand, her communicator and her transformation brooch 
at her furry companion.  "Take this stupid stick and this cursed crystal with you!  It's 
caused enough trouble already!"  Still fuming, she picked up Luna, along with the things she 
longed to be rid of, and walked downstairs.  "Stay away from me!," she yelled as she roughly 
pushed the cat out into the cold.  Stunned, Luna took the precious cargo and ran down the 
street.  Frowning at the late hour, she called Amy on the communicator.

	"Hello?," answered a sleepy voice as Amy's image came on screen.  "Amy, it's me, 
Luna."  "Luna?  What's wrong?," she asked nervously.  "It's Serena," continued the cat, 
"Darien's death has been especially hard on her."  Amy nodded over the view screen as the cat 
talked.  "She refuses to fight the Negaverse any longer and she threw me out of the house!"  
The blue-haired girl frowned.  "You can come stay with me," she said, "I really need to have 
a talk with Serena tomorrow, this is getting too serious."  Closing the communicator and 
grabbing the rest of Serena's gear, Luna quietly made her way over to Amy's house.

Chapter 5

	Lita finally reached Raye's temple, the last scout to come for the important meeting.    
Coming up the stairs, she nodded at her other companions.  "Where's Serena?," asked Katarina, 
"We can't have a meeting without her."  "I'm afraid we'll have to," said Amy.  The other four 
scouts turned to face her with confused faces.  "Serena has decided to no longer be our 
leader.  Darien's death hit her hard and now she wants nothing to do with Sailor Moon, or any 
of us for that matter."

	Katarina turned to Luna.  "Something's been bothering me since that day we were in 
Darien's apartment."  "Well, it was quite a revolting sight," said the cat.  "No," said 
Katarina, "That's not what I mean."  She paused for a moment, thinking.  "Darien was in the 
living room, 
near the kitchen.  The killer must have been someone he knew and trusted, since they were 
obviously invited inside."  Each scout looked towards Katarina with realization glazing their 
eyes.  "So it could even be one of us?," asked a worried Raye.  Mina frowned "We can't jump 
at shadows, Darien knew a lot of people.  It could have been one of his college friends, or 
almost anyone for that matter.  With Serena gone, we only have each other to depend on, and 
we need each other's trust to get through this."  The other girls nodded.  "Good point Mina," 
said Katarina.  "Definitely agreed," added Lita.

Chapter 6

	Opening the door carefully, the odango-haired girl stepped into the room where her 
future died slightly more than a week ago.  Looking at the dried blood, she brushed her hair 
back and tenderly put a single, rose just inside the outline of her love.  "For a thousand 
years," she mumbled, "we were apart.  How can you leave me now?  After all this time, we 
finally found each other." She stared at the rose, remembering all the times Tuxedo Mask had 
swooped in to save her with his organic weapon.  Her whispers and memories soon became sobs 
that racked through her body in waves of pain.

	"But it's so much better now," she said, "you can't hurt me any more."  Serena walked 
in through the door and turned towards the familiar figure, startled.  She looked at Mina 
with eyes that continued to widen.  Mina was wearing HER uniform with HER odango hairstyle.  
Confused, she stepped back.  "He left me, all alone with Reenie; then she disappeared too," 
continued Mina, now talking to her stunned friend. Still not comprehending what she was 
hearing, Serena stood in shock at a near identical form of herself.  "Tuxedo Mask still saved 
me, but he continued to avoid me!  Why did he hate me so?  We were prince and princess during 
the Silver Millennium."  Mina paused to think, giving Serena enough time to understand what 
she was saying.  "Mina?," asked Serena, "What..."  "Not Mina!  Serena!," she screamed as she 
cut off the other girl's words.  "I'm Serena, Sailor Moon, the Moon Princess!  Me!  The leader 
of the Sailor Senshi!  I am the champion of justice!"

	Shocked by her friend's outburst, Serena unconsciously inched back towards the kitchen.  
Seeing where the frightened girl was headed, Mina pounced, pushing past her and rushing into 
the small kitchen.  Grabbing a large knife, she bolted towards Serena, who let out a shriek.  
"Mina!  I can get help for you!  You'll be all right!"  "I don't need help, you imposter.  
You're the only one that needs a shrink," Mina said menacingly.  "You really believe you're me 
don't you Mina?," said the wide eyed girl.  Still holding the knife, the last clip holding 
Mina's odangos slipped out and she began to look more like her true self.  "No!  I'm Serena!  
Stop trying to imitate me!  You're nuts, you need help!," said Mina.

	"If I'm not Serena, then who am I?," asked the girl with the familiar odangos.  Mina 
paused, taken aback by the trivial question.  Serena took this moment to launch herself at her 
former friend, the person who had killed Darien and destroyed her life.  "Agh!," they both 
screamed unanimously.  Both girls had their hands on the knife and they dropped to the floor, 
wrestling for control of the weapon.  Standing back up, they continued to quarrel.

	Suddenly, the knife turned upwards, as if jerked by an invisible force.  Perhaps it 
had been the force of hate, or maybe that of love.  As the battle raged on, a startled cry 
erupted, coming from everywhere, and nowhere.  It echoed through the now unfurnished room, 
ringing with both terror and betrayal.  Surprised and in pain, the blonde girl's eyes took on 
the glaze of death as the knife plunged into her heart.


                               ~*~ ~*~ ~*~