Submitted for your approval (or disapproval as the case may be) this is my first attempt at a fanfic. This chapter takes place immediately after the battle with Queen Beryl. You know, when the Scouts all returned safely, but with no memory of being Sailor Scouts. Or did they...? This is based on the DIC translation, as that is the only version I've seen (apologies to those fans of the original version). All names, places and events are copyright of DIC, Bandai, Toei, etc. except those I make up. Comments, praises and flames may be sent to: andyhme@mixnet.commdesign.com Andrew M. Hujsak Passageways-1 To sleep...: Serena Darkness prevailed. There were no sensations, no sound, no feeling of heat or cold, no smell. Then slowly the darkness started to lift, then an amount of awareness returning, the feeling of merging, the reuniting of body and spirit. "Where am I?" the thought drifted slowly to the surface of the young girls' mind. The sensation of lying on something, not soft but not exactly hard came through. And it was fairly warm, also, which seemed strange because the last thing she remembered was cold, bitter biting cold. Something else penetrated the lessening darkness, now a haze. A sound? Yes, that was it, a far off voice calling: "...na? Please answe..." was all she could make out. "Na?" who or what was "na"? She listened more intently, "Serena? Where are you, honey? Please Answer!" Serena, the name stirred something in her. Why, that was HER name! And the voice, it sounded like..."Daddy?" came out weakly. And then she remembered. It all came flooding back, the Negaverse, the battle with Queen Beryl, the Sailor Scouts... The Scouts! She remembered them dying at the hands of the Doom and Gloom Girls then later feeling their essence channeling energy into her at the Final Battle with that Evil Queen! They COULDN'T be dead, it just wouldn't be fair! After all, she seemed to have made it back in one piece, why shouldn't they make it. And then there was Tuxedo, no, Prince Darien, he had promised he would find a way back to her..."You PROMISED!" she muttered. Slowly, Serena opened her eyes and saw that she was sprawled in an area of grass. Looking around, she found that she was in a large open area with trees spread around the area. In the distance, she could see buildings rising up."I must be in the McKenna Park." Looking at herself, she found that she had transformed back to her 'normal' clothes, no longer Princess Serena nor Sailor Moon. At least she wouldn't have to explain that to her parents, but otherwise what a mess she was. Clothes badly rumpled, some of it torn, and her hair! One of her "meatballs" had come undone and had become a tangled fright. And she was bruised up a bit, so she hadn't come through unscathed. Better think fast, Serena! Looking up, she saw three figures a little way off, and she knew that they were her parents and little brother. "Dad! Mom! Sammy! I'm over here!", waving at them. The three started running toward her and soon arrived. "Oh, Serena, we were so worried about you when that freak storm arrived and you weren't home...oohh!" this from her mother as she saw the condition Serena was in. "Honey, are you alright? Are you badly hurt?" from her father. " Yeah, what happened to you?" from Sammy, his eyes getting big and round as he saw her dishevelment. What happened? "I..I think I'm alright, just a little sore, thats all. I...we, my friends Amy, Lita, Raye and Mina, we were attacked by five older girls, a gang I think, and another woman who looked really wicked." Well, it was the truth, sort of, but not all of it and it felt like a lie, and Serena hated lying to her parents. "My friends fought them and then I must have got hit or something 'cause I don't remember anything else 'til I heard you calling me." More half-truth, ugh! "Your friends?" said her father, "I don't see them around here right now. Did they just leave you? Some friends if they did!" "I don't believe that! They must have had a good reason. Maybe...maybe they were captured or are chasing that gang, but I do know that they were trying to protect me!" tears were starting to well up in her eyes as she said this, knowing very well that her friends were likely dead in a frozen wasteland. How was she going to explain that to Amy and Minas' parents, Rayes' Grandpa and Litas'...oh, Lita had no one, her parents having died in a plane crash years ago. Poor Lita, no one to miss her, except me! "Well, be that as it may, right now we are going to take you to the hospital and have you checked out," said her mother sternly "then we will go looking for your friends later and find out what happened." Serena knew better than to argue with her when she used that tone of voice. "OK, Mom. Hey, wait a minute, where's Luna? Didn't she come with you?" "She looked like she wanted to, then backed off at the last minute and stayed inside the house." said Sammy. "It was almost as if she knew that we would find you and that her help wasn't needed." I wonder what's up with her? thought Serena. " OK, let's go, then." she said. Later at the hospital: The doctor came up to Serenas' parents and said "your daughter is going to be fine, just some minor bruises and abrasions. Could you tell me what happened?" Serenas' parents related the story that she had told them. "Yes that makes some sense, though there haven't been any other cases here today connected to gang attacks. Perhaps your daughters' friends weren't badly hurt or were taken to a different hospital or branch clinic. I would check those places first. Your daughter will be out shortly and then she can go home." "Thank you, doctor." they replied, and a few minutes later they did just that. ____________________________________________________________ It was getting late, and Serenas' parents decided that it would be best if they started searching for her friends in the morning when they were well rested. This didn't set well with her, but she agreed anyway. "Who knows, maybe they will call you before we even get started." said her father. As they approached their house, Serena looked up to her bedroom window and saw a small head peeking out which quickly disappeared. She smiled to herself, and as her parents opened the door, a small black cat with a crescent moon on her forehead leaped out with a "meeoowr" and landed on Serenas' shoulder. "Yes Luna, I'm happy to see you too!" "That cat," said her father, "she sure is attached to you." "Yeah, well, she's just smarter than your average cat, that's all. I'm going to take a bath and go to bed. G'nite all." As Serena was soaking in the hot water, letting the aches ease out of her, Luna leapt up onto the tub and regarded her oddly. "Luna, you haven't said a single word since we got home. Is there something wrong?" A look of relief crossed her face and she let out a sigh. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure if you would remember that I could talk. Or that you are Sailor Moon. With the forces I felt while you were fighting Queen Beryl, it was a very real possibility that you would lose your memory of everything related to the Sailor Scouts." "Sailor... Who?" said Serena. Luna looked up at her, eyes widening in shock, then noticed the twinkle in Serenas' eye and the broad grin on her face. "Don't do that! You scared me out of two of my lives when I thought I had said too much! Ooooh!" "Aww, c'mon Luna, I was just having a little fun! It's been a hard day." "Yes, I'm sure it has been. Tell me what happened." And so Serena related the full story of the battle with the Negaverse, the Doom and Gloom Girls, the death of the other Scouts, crying a bit over that part, her fight with and subsequent healing of Darien, and his death, crying alot over that part, and the final battle with Queen Beryl. Then she told Luna about her waking up in the park and the rest of it. "You did right not to tell your parents the whole truth, I'm sure that they just would not understand." "But I hate lying to them, and I don't know if I can keep the secret now with the Scouts gone. I have to tell someone, and if I can't trust my own family, who can I trust? Besides that what am I supposed to tell the girls families as to what happened? This is going to be real hard!" "I know, Serena, and we'll think of something. Really, we will." By this time Serena was in her PJ's and ready to go to sleep. "By the way Luna, why didn't you come out with my parents and Sammy to look for me this afternoon?" Luna hung her head and said softly "I was afraid, Serena, afraid of what we would find, or rather what we wouldn't find. I knew the fight was over and that Beryl was defeated, but I couldn't *feel* you. There were a lot of residual forces at work and that was blocking my senses, sort of like static on a radio, and I couldn't face the possibility of your being..." she couldn't say the word. "I was never so happy as when you came up the driveway alive and well. Uh, almost well." looking at the now fading bruises. Her head snapped up and said "But I never gave up hope, that there is a strength in you that would let you survive if anyone could. And now the Trust that Queen Serenity gave me to watch over you has not been in vain." Serena sat quietly, taking all this in. Suddenly, there was a scratching sound at the window, causing Serena to jump three feet in the air in startlement. Looking over, she saw a white cat with a crescent moon on his forehead. "Artemus" she breathed and opened the window to let him in. "Serena, your back! Where are the girls, where's Mina?" Serena and Luna looked at each other. Finally, Luna said "I'm sorry Artemus, but we believe she's dead, along with the other Scouts. Only Serena seems to have survived." The words hung in the air with a growing look of alarm on Artemus' face. "No, I don't believe it!" he said vehemently. "Not Mina! I would know if she were dead! I would feel the emptiness that would leave in me. I know she's alive!" and softly "I know it!" a tear falling as he said it. Luna and Serena looked at each other. Was it possible? They both knew that he and Mina had a much stronger bond than they did, because of their longer association. His watching over her as an infant, seeing her grow up, the developement of her powers as Sailor V, and the joining up with the rest of the Scouts. She just might be alive! And that means that the rest of the Scouts might be alive, too! "Serena, have you tried the communicator?" "No, I...I didn't think it would do much good." she said as she fished the object in question from her purse. "Serena, you're such a ditz!" Ignoring that last remark from Artemus, she opened the channel. "Mina, Amy, Lita, Raye, do you hear me? It's Serena, please answer, PLEASE..." End Part One