Dark on the Outside - Chapter 11 by Ari --------------------------------------------------------------------- DARK ON THE OUTSIDE (insert disclaimers here) Wake up the dawn and ask her why, a dreamer dreams she never dies. Wipe that tear away now, from you eye. -Liam Gallager of Oasis Lyrics from "Champagne Supernova =====CHAPTER 11: THE LIVES BEFORE===== CHERRY HILL TEMPLE NOON It was a clear day the next day, as the Scouts assembled at Raye's temple for an emergency meeting. When Owen returned home from his trip, Amy promptly informed the others. She told them he needed to talk to them face to face. "Are you sure he's coming Amy?" Raye asked. "Yeah," she said. "He was in the shower when I left, so he should be here in a little while." "What did he say he wanted?" Serena said. "He just said he wants to talk to us. I know he's done some terrible things, but please, take him seriously, guys?" Everyone a- greed. "He also said something about these reoccuring dreams he's been having." "What kind of dreams?" Luna asked. "I don't know. But judging by what he told me, they seem to stem back to our past lives. Back on the moon...." But before she could explain anything more, there was a very loud explosion. "What the hell?" Luna asked. When the explosion subsided, she could hear Hollywood Hogan's laughter - as faint as it was. "It's the Negaverse! And it sounds like they're in full force! You better get over there!" "You don't have to tell us twice! MOON CRYSTAL POWER!" "MARS POWER!" "MERCURY POWER!" "VENUS POWER!" "JUPITER POWER!" MEANWHILE, AT THE ANDERSON RESIDENCE Owen stepped out of the house and started out to Raye's. He got in his car, turned on the engine, and pulled out from in front of the house. On the seemingly long drive, he was going over in his mind what he was going to tell Serena and the others. He was nervous. He was sweating crisco. He tried to maintain his composure. He was shocked to see that, when he got to the temple, they were nowhere to be seen. Then, he fell down to his knees and held his head in his hands. "Dear God," Owen said to himself, "why are you mak- ing this so DIFFICULT for me?!" When he picked his head up, he saw a mob of terrorized citizens running scared. He'd seen this before; the Negaverse is at work. So he got up and ran in that direction. "What do you want from us now?" Sailor Moon asked. The five of them were confronted by the three leaders of the Negaverse: Hollywood Hogan, Kefka, and Queen Beryl. "Were looking for that damn traitor, Darkheart, Sailor Brat," Beryl said. "Sorry, haven't seen him," Sailor Mercury said. "Is that so?" Hogan said. "Well, maybe it's time we give you something to loosen your tongue!" "And now, prepare for your doom!" Kefka said, readying his light of judgement. But he felt an arm across his chest, breaking his concentration. "Not yet," Beryl said, removing her arm. "Allow me." She then turned her attention to the scouts. Owen ran down the street as fast as his body would allow him, trying to get to Beryl & Co. before it was too late. As he turned and ran down another street, he found himself a little distance behind the Negaverse minions. He quickly ducked into an alley. He held his back to a wall as he heard Beryl give one last threat to the Sailor Scouts. All of a sudden, he remembered what they have done for him. They were more than friends. They were in fact fighting a common cause: the saftey of the entire universe. "I can't let this happen," Owen said to himslef. "If they lose now, we're ALL screwed!" At that, he then remembered what Beryl, Ho- gan, and Kefka had forced him to do. As the old saying goes, payback's a bitch. "It's time I set the record straight." He stepped away from the wall. "MOON DARKNESS POWER!!!" When he finished transforming, he was wearing his Darkheart attire - the blue armor, the purple sleeve- less shirt, black pants, and the boots, but sans glasses - and then took off to destroy the evil ones...before they could destroy the Sai- lor Scouts. "Sailor Scouts, you've thwarted my plans for the last time," Beryl started. "Your end is nigh!" She raised her hands and started to cast her most powerful spell. The Scouts looking on were entranced by the magic hovering around her. But then, the trance was broken when Beryl let out a painful scream as a silver katana blade protruding through her chest. When she fell forward, blood dripping from the sword still sticking through her chest, an angry Darkheart stood over her. "Hello Beryl. Remember ME?!" Darkheart shouted. "You're worst nightmare is coming back to haunt you!" Everyone had the exact same shocked expression on their face as Beryl laid there, dying. "Wh...what are you doing?" Beryl choked out. "How does it feel? How does the pain of betrayl feel? What goes around, comes around, Negascum." He then drew his other sword, and held it above his head, blade facing down. "You stabbed me in the back *figuratively*, Beryl! Now, I"M gonna do it, *literally!!!*" "NO! PLEASE! DON'T-AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" Before she could beg for the mercy of her former slave, Darkheart plunged the blade of his other sword into Beryl's back. As she screamed, blood gushed out of her open mouth as she reached her arm out for some kind of help. But it would- n't have helped, becuase seconds after she stopped screaming, her head drooped down, and Queen Beryl died. Satisfied that Beryl wasn't breathing, Darkheart pressed his right boot between were he stuck his swords, and quickly pulled them out. When he looked for other former employer to erradicate, he looked over and saw Hogan and Kefka standing close to each other, and the poor bastards were scared senseless. He pointed at Hogan with one of his blades, now stained with Bery's blood. "Hollywood," he started. "I will personally see to it that you don't enjoy a very long retirement." This then caused the two cowards to disappear back into the Negaverse via a hastily-opened portal. When they left, he resheathed his swords and turned to the Scouts. Before he said anything, he reverted back to Owen. "We need to talk." ANDERSON RESIDENCE 1:00 "It's about time we got together like this and had a serious discussion, guys," Owen said. "I gotta get this off my chest." Every- one was in Owen's room at Amy's house. They waited patiently for what he was going to say to them. "So you plan to tell us what this is all about?" Raye asked, with a rather serious tone. "Well," Owen started." I don't remember much from when I was under their control, just some minor details. I remember them telling me...I was their friend...." "Well, that was your first mistake," Serena said. "The Nega- verse is full of nothing but scum, plain and simple. They were using you for your talent, and when you served your purpose, they saw no rea- son to keep you." "I don't know how I could have been so foolish." He stared out the bedroom window. "Maybe next time, I'll know better. All I know is that I've done some very inhuman things; I especially can't forgive my- self for what happened to Reenie." "Th-that was you?" Serena asked, tears forming in her eyes. O- wen nodded sadly. "If you hate my guts, Serena, that's okay; if you wanna kill me, go right ahead. I don't expect you to forgive me." "What I'm curious about," Luna said, "is about these dreams Amy told me you have. Would you...care to elaborate?" "Alright," he said. "I must warn you, they're rather bizzare." (((((FLASHBACK TO THE SILVER MILLENNIUM))))) I was born on the planet Mercury, more than a thousand years a- go. Only, my name wasn't anything resembling Owen. My father gave me the name Preston. Yeah, I guess I had a nice childhood. My mom was a very talen- ted singer, and I guess that's where I got my talent. I had stunned my tutor and my mom with my singing, and it made them very proud of me. I was happy living in the kingdom of Mercury, but there was something else I wanted. The only thing, I didn't know what it was. I decided one day to go and find out what it was. It was a normal day, I went to some of the local hangouts, out to lunch, and then just taking a walk. I must've been caught checking out someone or something, because I didn't realize until I fell down that someone had ran into me, sending both of us down. I regained my senses and looked at who knocked me over, when I saw...me?! We both screamed in shock at this other person that looked exactly like the o- ther. "Who the hell are you?!" we asked each other. It was like I was staring into a mirror! Only, he was dressed a little better than I was. I also noticed he had a nice gold necklace, and several very fan- cy, expensive rings. Although he did have the same exact earring in his left ear. His hair was also the same length as mine, only it was braided and hung half as far down his back as mine. "Oh, man!" I said. "It's like I'm looking into a mirror!" "Blimey!" he said. "What are the odds of a civilian looking exactly like me?!" "A civlilan? Who are you?" I looked real hard at him, and no- ticed he was a member of the Royal Family: The House of Hamilton. "I know who you are now." "Figured it out, huh?" he said as he helped me to my feet. "I am being rude. Allow me to introduce myself." He bowed forward slight- ly, and brought his right arm across his chest. "I am Prince Robert II." "Whoa...." That's all I can get out. I had never even seen any member of the Royal Family before in my life! "Please, call me Rob. I insist." "Okay then. What're you doin outside the palace like this?" "Well, to tell you the truth, I got tired of that kinda life," he said. At that, we took a walk around town, he explained to me that he had grown tired of royal life. They had made him into something that deep down inside, betrayed his nature. When we got to in sight of the palace, he finished telling me his story. "I want to experience common life. I want to be with good, ho- nest citizens. These people, I've noticed, have no problem being them- selves; that's what I want." "It seems that having everything handed to you on a silver platter hasn't made you a spoiled brat, huh?" I asked him. He nodded in agreement. Then, I came up with an idea. "Hey, why don't you and I trade places? I'll take over your life in the castle, and you can live at my place." "You'd do that for me?" I nodded. "Splendid! I can't thank you enough!" "Only, we'd have to do something about our...attire. I can't go in there looking like this!" I said, motioning to the street clothes I had on. It took a while, but we had exchanged all of our clothes. It surprised me to see that each of our sets of clothes fit each other perfectly. To seal the deal, he gave me all of his jewelry, untied his hair, and braided mine. We also exchanged vital information about each other, such as my address and habits, and his routines and his inter- ests. "Well," I said to him, extending my hand for a handshake. "Un- til we meet again, Preston." "Good luck, Prince Robert," he said to me as we shook hands. Then, we turned around, and started off bound for our new lives. For more than 3 years, everything went without a hitch. No one even noticed the difference; hell, there wasn't even any suspicion. Plus, they also pretty much ignored the Prince's newfound interest in music. It was taken in stride. My life - and I'm guessing the real prince's - were perfect, when one day, an act of God occured. A *very* bad act of God.... Authorities had been informed that a dead body had been found around noon one day. He was stabbed several times, and then strangled to death. But that wasn't the worst of it. The body was that of the REAL Prince Robert II! When it was eventually discovered that the real Prince was as- sasinated, one thought appeared in everyone's mind: *I* was the one who murdered him some time ago and was trying to infiltrate the House of Hamilton! As if THAT wasn't bad enough, King Robert I had no other surviving children! Needless to say, when they started to accuse me of the murder, I wasted no time in getting the hell outta there. There was little I could do, except run. For nearly all of the next two years, I spent my life kingdom- hopping. At some point, I lived in each of the kingdoms of our system, the Sol System, except for Venus (which was too close to Mercury) Mars, and Pluto (mainly because when I was on Neptune, I learned that Pluto's wide-ass orbit placed it on the opposite side of the system). My "trip" finally came to an end when I finally decided to set- tle on the Moon...the dark side of the moon, to be precise. I always had this fear that Mercurian troops would still be looking for me (when they probably stopped the search three kingdoms ago...) so I changed my life accordingly; I lived quitely, was seldomly seen in public, and e- ven changed my identity. I cut my hair so only a little bit of a tail hung from the back of my head. When I went out, I wore sunglasses and called myself Owen. I needed to get a job, too, I realized. Within a month, I re- cruited four talented musicians - three guitarists and one drummer - and we formed our own band. We were called Nice Guy Eddy. It was Bri- an, Phil, Don, Mike, and myself. We played many different events; private parties, concerts, and other public performances. When, during an interview, when I was asked why I always wear sunglasses, I simply told them "My eyes are very sen- sitive to light." Regardless, we were on top of the music world. One of the Lunar soldiers must have been in attendance at one of our events, because one day, we recieved a summons to the Moon Pal- ace. Queen Serenity has heard of our band and wants us to perform at some grand ball, or something. She also requested we appear to play for her privately. Obviously wanting to make a lasting impression on the queen, we found additional help in the form of an orchestra led by a man named Fusoya. Surprisingly, it went very well, and the queen loved our per- formance. The concert would be in one week. It figures that I would be late to the biggest - and would la- ter be the last - affair in the entire system. I had been carrying an extra guitar with me as I hurried on foot to the palace. When I was about 30 or so feet from the gates, I noticed a flash of light in the corner of my eye. I looked over and saw four Sailor Scouts attacking a very evil presence. After shrugging off their combined attack, the thing fired one huge blast and destroyed everything and everyone on the surface of the moon. I don't know why, but it seems kind of odd to me now that I tried to fend off the attack with my extra guitar. As I laid there dying, I focused my failing eyesight on the queen, focusing her last ounce of strength into sending the scouts, her daughter, the prince to Earth and her advisors to Earth. I guess I was just in range of her magic, because my next coherent thought was of me floating in a bubble, looking down on my broken body, and looking up, I saw the others disappearing into Earth's atmosphere. (((((END FLASHBACK))))) "Nice Guy...Eddy?" Luna asked, puzzled. "You know, I DO remem- ber hearing that name somewhere. So you were late to your biggest per- formance ever, but were right on time for your undoing." "Ironic, isn't it Luna?" Owen said. "Up until Hogan, Kefka, and the late Queen Beryl folded on me, I didn't have any of those dreams. It came to me in pieces when I was on the road a few days ago. I had no idea I lived more than a thousand years ago." "We all did," Mina said. "But one thing bothers me; if you suffered the same fate as we did, why are you American and not Japa- nese?" "I was puzzled about that for a while, but it makes perfect sense," Owen answered. "Before we all died, I noticed we were at least nine or so yards apart. Last time I checked, Atlantic City, New Jersey and Tokyo, Japan are about nine thousand miles apart." "I see," Amy said. "Well, I think that wraps everything up-" "Except for one thing, Amy," Lita interrupted. Owen swallowed hard, knowing what she was going to ask about. "Ever since you laid eyes on me, Owen, you've completely ignored me! I haven't done any- thing to offend you, I tried to even talk to you, and you blow me off! What is your problem?" Owen tried to look Lita straight in the eyes, but he turned away sharply. "I..." he murmured. "I thought I'd be able to forget her for- ever." "Forget who?" "My old girlfriend. Lita." (((((FLASHBACK TO DOVE GROVE PARK, FOUR YEARS AGO))))) She was my first, and I would hope my only love. Dear God, I love you so much, Lita. Her name, and the Lita I know now, were the same, but the similarities ended there. She was about six inches shor- ter than I was, had sandy blond hair that rested on her shoulders, and wore glasses. And she was absolutely beautiful. It was my 13th birthday, and before the actual party could start at our - at the time - middle class home, she took me to our fa- vorite spot in the park. She brought with her a very tasty lunch, which she and her mom had helped prepare. "Mmmmm, that was a fabulous lunch, love," I said as I helped put the empty containers in the picnic basket. "You're a wonderful cook, Lita." "Only for you, Owen," she said. Then, she reached in her pock- et and pulled out a present. It was a small, rectangular box, wrapped in shiny blue paper with a white bow. "Happy Birthday, Owen." She handed me the box, and when I unwrapped it, it was a gray velvet case. I opened it up, and saw a 14k gold and sterling silver crucifix on a 14k gold rope chain. "Oh, it's..." I quickly tried it on. "It's great. Gee, Lita, you didn't have to do all this for me." Then, she leaned over and kissed me. "But you know I love you so much, Owen." That was enough for me to return her passionate kiss tenfold. I don't know how long we kissed, but we stopped when we heard some obnoxious hooting and holler- ing. It was Geoffry and some local thugs. "Can't you two leave us alone?" Lita asked, as we looked at the hoodlums. One thing that chilled me right to the bone was that I saw a bulge in the left breast of all their jackets; an implication that they had guns. "C'MON OWEN! TAKE THE BITCH!!!" Geoffry shouted. That was it. We needed to leave, now. "Let's just go, Lita," I said to her as we got up. "Forget these losers." The last thing I saw before we turned away was the four of them reach into their jackets. "Shit run Lita, they got guns!" We took off for my house when shots started ringing out. I got hit twice; one bullet got me right where my thigh met my butt, and I could feel the other puncture the back of my lung. I tripped on a crack in the sidewalk and fell face fist. I was gasping for breath. "Owwwwww, my ASS...it's RUINED!!!" Almost instantly when I got hit, I saw Lita collapse right beside me. She had several wounds all over her back, and - judging by the puddle of blood she was laying face down in, went out her chest. Shock gripped me as she muttered "I love you, Owen" and she lost consciousness. "LIIIIIII-TAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" (((((END FLASHBACK))))) "Paramedics arrived about ten minutes later for us, and the thugs were long gone," Owen finished, holding back his tears. "I was in the hospital for almost a month and needed a lung transplant." "And what about your girlfriend?" Lita asked. Owen gradually let his tears pour out. "Lita...died on the way to the hospital." He wiped his eyes. "I'm sorry for being so rude, but it's just...it's just...." Lita put her hand on Owen's trembling hand, and squeezed it slightly. "I understand." Owen eventually regained his composure. "Nothing would sastify me better than to get rid of those los- ers in the Negaverse." He glanced at Serena briefly. "But I'm not too sure if I can do it on my own." As ditzy as she was, it didn't take long for Serena to pick up what he meant. "I think I know where this is going," Serena said, extending her hand. "So what do you say, Owen? Partners?" Owen glanced at her hand, then at her, then the others, and her hand again. It didn't take long for his reply. He took her hand in his. "Partners." One by one, the others, including Luna and Artemis, put their hands on top of Owen's and Sere- na's; first Amy, then Lita, then Raye, then Mina, then Artemis, and fi- nally Luna. Each of them said "Partners" as their hand joined the oth- ers. For a while, they just stood there, basking in their newfound al- liance. Artemis was the first to speak up. "I'll bet any one of yas that all the furniture is flying all over the Negaverse!" =====TO BE CONTINUED=====