Destiny Series: Episode 4 -Angel- ActinAngel@aol.com Episode Four "Virus Breaks Out" Serena lied in bed. For the third day in a row, she had been extremely tired. She was running a fever and constantly coughing. She was miserable, not only because she was so sick, but because Darien had left for good. Serena sniffed. He had come to her house half an hour before that horrible monster appeared, and told her he was going away and wouldn't be back. Serena thought back to what had happened. She had been in the monster's clutches, struggling and screaming. The monster had a needle and was trying to inject her with something. She cried for Tuxedo Mask, but no rose appeared. She was injected with whatever was in the tube. Tuxedo Mask didn't save her, he was truly gone. What was in that needle? It didn't seem to have any effect on her. It was probably sugar water, she thought. The monster disappeared after she had been injected. Serena coughed. If only this flu would go away. It was enough that she was completely down about Darien, but to be sick was absolutely unbearable. At least she got to miss school. Serena looked outside. She wondered what her friends were up to. Amy was probably studying at the library, Lita was probably playing video games, and Mina was probably at home working on a new hairstyle or something. Serena sighed. And not one of them has come to see me, she thought angrily. Raye sighed as she swept the temple porch. She wondered what Lita, Amy, Mina, and Serena were doing. They're probably getting ice cream or something, she thought to herself. She sighed. It had been three days since she had been kicked out of the Sailor Scouts. But more importantly, it had also been three days since Darien told her he was going away and wouldn't be back. Raye felt a tear trickle down her cheek, but she brushed it away. Darien would come back to save Serena, she thought. He had to. Chad came up behind Raye. "Hey Raye!" he said happily. "Hi," she said unenthusiastically. "Um, I have some tickets to go see a concert Saturday. Would you like to go with me?" he asked sheepishly. Raye looked at Chad. He looked so eager for Raye to join him. She smiled as she thought of how much he wanted her to be his girlfriend. She wanted to say yes, but something compelled her to hold back. "I'm sorry, Chad. I don't think I can go." she said and went back to sweeping. "Oh, okay," he said, obviously disappointed. He walked away, and Raye went back to thinking of Darien. Darien sighed as he unpacked his pictures. He put one of Andrew, his best friend, on his coffee table. He glanced at a few of his modeling photos, and hung them on the wall. He picked up the last one. It was a picture of him and Serena. We look so happy, he thought. He put the picture next to Andrew, but then picked it up. No, I have to move on, he thought. He put the picture back in the box and shoved the box into his closet. He was now in his new apartment. He had gotten a new job and moved far away from his troubles. He felt guilty about leaving Serena and Raye like that, but it was the only way. Darien took out his vase of roses. Somehow, he always had roses around the place. Some things never change, he thought. He put the roses in his kitchen. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Who could that be?" he asked himself as he opened the door. "Oh my!" said a beautiful woman. "I must have the wrong apartment!" She looked startled. "That's okay, miss." Darien said with a smile. "Are you new, too?" "Yes, just moved in with my boyfriend yesterday. Oh, it's C-5, not B-5. No wonder my key didn't work." she said, looking at the door. "That's alright. I'm new, too, and I almost made the same mistake." Darien chuckled. The woman smiled. "Well, it was nice to meet you, uh, I didn't catch your name." "Oh, sorry. Darien." Darien shook the woman's hand. "And you're..." "Tanya." Tanya giggled. "Well, I better be going. Nice meeting you." Tanya walked towards the steps. Tanya opened the door. "Tanya, that you?" a voice called from the kitchen. "Yeah, sweetheart." she yelled back. She opened the kitchen door and kissed Scott on the cheek. "So, how was your little adventure?" he asked, going back to cooking dinner. "I wish I had brushed up on my Earth culture a little more. I almost forgot how to drive a car," she said, laying the keys down. "And I went to the wrong apartment." Scott smiled. "Well, it was your idea we come here." "Yeah, I know. It does make seeing the Sailor Scouts a whole lot easier. Now we don't have to send monsters all the time." "That's true." Scott said as he added some spices to the grill. Tanya smelled it and smiled. "I excelled in Earth cooking at grammar school." Scott added with a grin. Tanya kissed Scott and then headed to her bedroom. "So have you seen anyone that could be the scouts?" Scott called. Lita sneezed. That set the other girls sneezing and coughing. They were all completely miserable. "Man, this flu has really gotten bad. We all have it." Amy said. She blew her nose on her handkerchief. "Yeah, I wish I could get some medicine to make me feel better." Lita said. Luna glanced at the girls. They all had the same symptoms. It just seemed like a long flu. Something was nagging Luna, though. She couldn't shake it off. "Well, let's get on with this meeting," Serena said sniffing. "Okay, this is not the Negaverse." Mina said. The girls looked over at Mina. She coughed and continued, "The Negaverse wouldn't send its monsters for nothing. Think about it," she said. "Both the monsters we've seen have suddenly disappeared without any explanation. Don't you find that strange?" Amy nodded. "I've been thinking about that. This can't be the Negaverse. It's something way bigger." She paused, "I'm still trying to figure out what you were injected with, Serena." "Don't worry about it Amy. It hasn't had any effect on me." Serena said, then started coughing. "Well, whatever this force is, I don't want to wait around until it appears again." Lita said, standing up. She coughed and sneezed. Luna stood up. "No, Sailor Scouts. You all are going home to get some rest. Artemis and I will check this out." She didn't wait for an answer, but just left the girls. "Amy, any word about that doctor friend of yours?" Lita sniffed. "Oh yes, I forgot to tell you. My friend said he would be delighted to see you guys tomorrow." Amy said. "Great! Maybe he'll give us some prescription medicine." Lita said. "Hmm," the doctor glanced at the girls. "This is very unusual. Four friends getting the same disease within 30 seconds of each other. And this doesn't represent any flu that's going around." The doctor rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What does that mean?" Lita asked. She had an incredible fear of doctors, only because they bore bad news. "It means we'll have to wait until the blood test comes back. It should only take about half an hour." The doctor motioned for the girls to sit down. "Wait here." "What else can we do?" Serena said glumly. She felt awful. She hated being poked and prodded till her whole body was bruised. She wanted to go home and sleep. The girls had the same idea. By the time the doctor came back, they were all asleep. He hurried them into a small doctor's office. They were puzzled. "Why are we all together?" Mina asked. "Isn't it the regular procedure to keep patients in separate offices?" Amy nodded in answer to Mina's question. "Unless there's something he wants to tell us all." she whispered. That's usually bad, though Lita. She shifted uncomfortably. The doctor had a grim expression on his face. He doesn't look a thing like my old boyfriend, she thought glumly. The doctor sighed. He rubbed his forehead, then turned to the girls. He wasn't smiling. "There's no other way for me to put this, ladies." Lita panicked. That was a sure sign that something was bad. She waited to hear the dreadful news, but nothing could've prepared her for what was coming. "You all have AIDS." Raye flipped through the channels. There didn't seem to be anything good on tv. Life wasn't this boring when I was a Sailor Scout, she thought sadly. She wondered what the girls were doing, she hadn't seen them in a week. Raye's grandfather walked in. "Hey Raye!" he said cheerfully. "Mind if I watch the news?" Raye shrugged and turned the station to the news. She hated hearing about the crime in the city, but it was better than nothing. "Our top story..." the reporter began, "Four teenagers have been diagnosed with a complex form of AIDS. This disease is not like any of the other AIDS cases people have seen, for it appears to be contagious. It is also rapidly progressing." "Those poor kids." Grandpa said. Raye shrugged. "The four girls, Lita, Mina, Serena, and Amy, were admitted into the hospital this afternoon." the television showed the Sailor Scouts entering the hospital. Raye gasped! "Lita! Mina! Amy! Serena! Grandpa, that's them! They're the ones!" Raye started crying. Her friends had AIDS. They weren't going to live. It wasn't supposed to be that way. They were supposed to rule the city in their adulthood. It was their destiny. Tanya jumped up and began shouting. "Scott, we got them! We finally got them!" Scott rushed out of the bedroom. Tanya leaped into his arms. He laughed and then put her down. "What happened?" he asked. "The Sailor Scouts have been admitted into the hospital! And I know their human identities! We finally beat them!" Tanya leaped in the air. Scott was overjoyed. The Sailor Scouts were finally finished with. He and Tanya could get married. Everything was accomplished. "Now to the third part of my plan." Tanya said. Scott's heart sank. He would have to wait for a while. "Which is?" he said with a fake smile. Tanya stood up and kissed Scott. "You'll see. I still have some alterations I need to make." Scott sat down on the couch. "So, who are the Sailor Scouts?" he asked, wanting to change the subject. "They're names are Lita, Mina, Amy, and Serena." Tanya said absentmindedly. "And..." Scott persisted. "What?" Tanya asked, clearly puzzled. "There are five scouts. You only named four." Scott said. Tanya stopped. She counted mentally. "You're right. Ones missing. One didn't get it. Uh-oh." she stood up immediately. Darien woke up. It was 7:30, time for him to get up and go on his morning jog. He yawned and flinched at smelling his own morning breath. No, first it's time to brush the teeth, he thought. After brushing his teeth and pulling on his running shorts, he went to the living room. He watered the roses, grabbed his walkman, and opened the door to leave. He tripped over the paper lying at his doorstep. "Whoops, forgot to get the paper," he said to himself. He picked up the paper and laid it on the kitchen table. He glanced at the front page. His walkman fell to the ground. Darien almost fainted when he read the headline. "Four teenagers diagnosed with unknown fatal disease resembling AIDS." he read. Underneath was a picture of Serena, Lita, Amy, and Mina entering a hospital. Darien began hyperventilating. It couldn't be true. The girls couldn't be that sick. They were fine when he last saw them a week ago. This couldn't be true. No, it wasn't true. It had to be a mistake. His first impulse was to call Serena's house. But something held him back. He reached for the phone and dialed Raye's number instead. The line picked up on the second ring. "Hello?" said a male voice. "Hey Chad, is Raye there?" Darien spoke in a hoarse voice. "Oh, sorry dude, she's not taking any calls at the moment. She's really upset about her friends." Chad said. "Who's this? I'll tell her you called." Darien was silent. It was true. If Raye was upset, then there was no denying it. He felt like ripping out his heart and dying with them. Darien thought for a second. There was no use in letting Raye no where he was. "Tell her Darien's thinking about her." he said and hung up. Then he went into his room and shut the door. Serena sat in bed. She wasn't showing any emotion whatsoever. She was numb, totally cold. "I'm dying, Luna. The Negaverse is going to take over. That wasn't supposed to happen." she said bluntly. Luna was in complete shock. Serena couldn't die. She had to defend the Universe. She was supposed to marry Darien. This couldn't be happening. Luna got an idea. "Serena, transform." she commanded. Serena looked puzzled. "Just do it." "Moon Prism Power!" Serena shouted. Instantly she was transformed in Sailor Moon. But she was extremely weak. Luna looked at her. "How do you feel?" "Tired." Sailor Moon said, slowly falling to the ground. Luna nodded, and went to the other Sailor Scouts. They transformed as well and joined Serena. Each of them looked exhausted. "Luna, what was the point of that? Besides, if any nurse walks in, they'll be in for a surprise." Mina said yawning. Luna nodded. "Let's get out of here." The Scouts exited the building and stood outside. They were so tired. "Luna, what's going on?" Amy asked. "We're going to find this enemy. They're the ones who got you sick." Luna said. "What?" Serena was completely confused. "Serena, you were injected with the disease. You passed it on to the Sailor Scouts. But it was custom made for only you guys, because no one else has got it. Therefore, your enemy is out to get all of you. We have to find it. They must know how to reverse the process." Luna said as she ran towards Raye's temple. "Are you going to Raye's?" Lita asked, about to follow her. "Yes, but don't follow me! We can spread the virus to HER!" Luna said. Raye sat in her bed. She had cried all her tears. Chad came in with some hot tea. "Um, Raye? A guy called for you." Raye shrugged. Chad continued, "He said to tell you that Darien is thinking of you." Raye jumped up. "Darien? Where is he? Did he sound okay?!" Raye shouted in Chad's face. "I don't know. He hung up too quickly." Chad set the tea on Raye's dresser. Suddenly, Raye heard a loud meow. Luna dashed into Raye's room. Chad looked confused. "Chad, why don't you talk to Grandpa. I've got some thinking to do." Raye said quietly. Chad nodded and closed the door. "Luna? What in the world?" Raye said. "Shh," Luna sat up on Raye's bed. She explained the whole thing to her. Raye nodded with understanding. "But can we do? We don't even know where the enemy is." Raye protested. "But we do know where the monsters constantly appear. I've instructed the scouts to go to the park. I want you to find Darien. Something tells me he holds the key to this whole thing." Luna instructed Raye. "I have no idea where Darien is." Raye shrugged. "It's so cold here. Do we have to stay?" Sailor Moon complained, and coughed. Luna nodded. "If there's going to be an enemy appearance, it's gonna be here." She sat next to Artemis. "We have to be patient." Sailor Moon nodded, and glanced at her watch. It was almost time for Sailor Mercury to take watch. She looked at the Sailor Scouts. Their breathing was shallow as they slept. "We don't have a lot of time, Luna." "I realize that." Luna said. She looked worriedly at Artemis. Sailor Moon got up to wake Mercury. She kneeled down and touched Mercury's shoulder. It was so cold. "Sailor Mercury?" she said. She wasn't breathing. "Mercury??" Sailor Moon panicked. She shook Mercury harder. There was no movement. "Mercury? AMY!" Sailor Moon shook her violently. Luna and Artemis ran over to her side. Venus and Jupiter both woke up. Jupiter ran over to Mercury to check her pulse. All the Sailor Scouts looked frantically at Mercury for any sign of life. Jupiter took away her hand. "She's dead." Jupiter said in a choked voice.