Character List: Sailor Moon - Serena (Princess Serena) Sailor Mercury - Amy Sailor Mars - Raye Sailor Jupiter - Lita Sailor Venus - Mina Sailor Neptune - Michelle Sailor Uranus - Amara Sailor Pluto - Trista Sailor Saturn - Heather Sailor Star - Aria Sailor Sun - Sierra Tuxedo Mask - Darien Moon Prince - Troy (Prince Troy) Title: Bitter Memories Rating: PG-13 Author: Eternal Star Princess Email: eternal_star_princess@yahoo.com Bitter Memories She sat in the windowsill of her bedroom, watching the rainfall and the lightning split the sky. Her face was devoid of any emotion. No sound but the tapping of the rain against the window was heard within the room. A black cat lay curled up in a ball at the end of the bed. "Oh Luna, I wish that argument had never happened. I miss them a lot." "I know Serena, but just wait. With time they will see the truth and you'll all be friends again. You'll see." "I hope you are right." Serena sighed as the room fell into an empty silence once more. Minutes later the stark silence was broken by the sound of the phone ringing. Serena dashed from the window the cordless phone of her desk. "Hello?" "Hey Serena. It's Mina." The voice on the other side said timidly, afraid she'd hang up the phone. "Oh hi." Serena relied in a monotone voice. "What do you want?" "Lita and me were wondering of you would like to join us for a late lunch at the caf頡nd go to the mall afterwards?" "I suppose, especially in this weather. I'm getting tired of being cramped alone in my apartment, well aside from Luna that is." "GREAT! Can you meet us in . . . oh, say 15 minutes?" "Sure. See you there." Serena hung up, and walked to her closet grabbing a pair of white tennis shoes and her turquoise ski jacket. "And where are you going Serena?" "That was Mina, she wanted to know if I wanted to get together with her and Lita. They might want to apologize you know." She said as she slipped her shoes on. "All right, well good luck." Luna smiled "And please be careful. I don't like this weather one bit." "I know Luna. Not to worry though, I am twenty now and I don't klutz out anymore plus I am Sailor Moon. But just to satisfy you I'll be careful." Serena leaned over gently scratching the Luna behind the ears. "See you in a little bit." "Oh before you go, when you see Mina and Lita do tell them I said hello." "I'll do that." Serena said as she as she was going out the door. She shivered as she quickly put her jacket on and zipped it up to her chin. The wind howled loudly as she struggled to walk against the gusting wind. As she tried walking again the wind the rain became harder until it formed into hail. Glancing up quickly, and just in time to see a bolt of lightning literally split the sky in two. Seconds later the thunder followed with a deafening boom. Not wanting to be caught to long in the pouring hail she began running towards the caf鮠Her face stung with ever hailstone that hit her unprotected face. *I'll never make it anywhere with this wind* She stopped near a light pole to catch her breath. The skin on her face stung from the hail that finally turned into a downpour. *Wow, it's getting so cold so quickly!* She shivered as the temperature dropped lower by the minute, it was so cold that ice was starting to form the pole she leaned against. She found a nearby bench to sit on, thinking she could relax for a couple minutes till the aching in her legs subsided enough to continue walking to the caf鮠After sitting on the bench for a minute she found it too hard to stand up, she could feel herself drifting off to sleep. *I've got to stay awake. I've got to stay awake!* Agonizing minutes later she lost control and unconsciousness took over her body. ~At the Caf龍 "Where is she?" Lita mumbled as she stared out the caf頷indow. "I'm worried. Something would have happened to her with this weather. We should go look for her." Mina said nervously biting her nails. "Mina, calm down. She's probably safe and warm. Knowing her she's stopped by Darien's apartment till the storm settles some. I'll be back in a few minutes I'm going to go call over at Darien's." Lita slipped from the booth to go to the pay phone. "I hope you are right Lita. I don't want to lose her before we get a chance to say our apologies." Mina breathed under her breath. "Darien? It's Lita." "Lita?" "Yeah, have you seen Serena today?" "Uh, no. Why? Is something wrong? "Sort of. Mina and me invited her to lunch and then a trip to the mall. We agreed to meet at the caf頡round 3 o'clock, but she is over an hour late, which isn't like her. So we thought she might have stopped at your place, but I guess not." Lita sighed, disappointedly. "I'm sure she's fine. Knowing Serena she would have gone back home and waited the storm out and then called one of you on the communicator." "Both of us have already tried calling over there three times but no one answered, and when we tried to call he by her communicator, Luna answered, said that she had left it." Lita worriedly looked back to the booth where Mina was waiting. "All right. Listen, if you don't see me at the caf頩n about an hour, then call back here to my place. If I do show up and without Serena, well . . . then you know something is wrong." "Sure. I hope you find her." "I do too. Bye." "Bye." Lita walked back to the booth and sat down across from Mina. "Well?" Mina asked hopefully. "I hate to bring you down, but she isn't there. He is going to go look for her and he said that he's not here in an hour to call back." With fear gripping at their minds, they just sat in an uneasy silence. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Where is she? How could she be so stupid to try and walk to the caf頩n this wind, I just hope she is all right. Now would not be the time to loose her.* He walked long the same streets that Serena would have walked along to get to the caf鮠Searching every darn alley carefully he still did not find her. The rain was hampering his vision as it came down, literally in solid sheets of water, making it hard to see no more than ten feet in front of him. He was almost halfway to the caf頷hen he stopped near a light pole to rest for a minute. He looked down just as he was about to continue walking and noticed something shiny under the dull light of the street lamp. After picking it up he noticed it was a set of keys, accompanied by a Sailor V key chain. *These are Serena's!* he thought in shock. *She can't be too far from here.* Walking into the wind again, he squinted against the blinding rain and almost passed up a bench if it had not been for something brightly colored lying on it. As he got nearer he realized in sudden horror that the brightly colored jacket was on a person, and that one person just happened to be Serena. Kneeling next to the bench he wrapped her fingers around her tiny wrists, to assure himself that he had not lost what meant most in his life, he could feel it, faint, but it was there. Without wasting another minute he quickly scooped her up, holding her close. With the wind to his back he ran as fast as he could back to his apartment. "What ever you do Serena don't let go. Don't you leave me, we have barely begun our lives together." Timed seemed to stretch an eternity as he ran back to his apartment. Kicking the door closed behind him, he went strait towards his room. After carefully laying her down on his bed he pulled of his jacket and went rummaging through the hall closet he pulled out two heavy blankets and tossed them onto the bed next to her. Sitting on the side of the bed he felt for her pulse again, it was still there, but much weaker than before, fear was starting to get the best of him. He had to get her out of her soaked clothes and warmed up. Unzipping her jacket, he pulled her arms out of the sleeves, tossing it on the floor near the door. He pulled of her shoes and soaks that were drenched with water, tossing them into the same pile as her jacket. The next things that came off were her shirt and pants; they too were thrown into the pile near the door. Grabbing the blankets he spread them out one on top of the other and tucked the edges underneath her body. He knew there was nothing else he could do for her, so he left her there. He sat on the couch and turned the TV on to maybe catch part of a news bulletin on the storm. Almost an hour later he became restless and couldn't sit and no nothing. He went and sat on the edge of the bed next to her, he couldn't help but admire her beauty even when she was as pale as this. Her skin color had improved some, but she was still deathly pale. As he brushed some of the lose hair out of her face, she began to move her arm, but it limply fell back to the bed. With his hopes down he looked to the pile of wet clothing, he found something to keep him bust for a small time. He grabbed a small plastic garbage bag, throwing all but her jacket and shoes in the bag. Grabbing his keys he left and headed for the apartment's laundry mat. He had been gone only about fifteen minutes when she began to stir. Moaning softly she moved her head to the side as she tried to open her eyes, when she did, she didn't recognize her surroundings. *Where am I?* She began to faintly smell a pleasant smell of a man's cologne, after a minute she remembered that the smell belong to Darien. It was the cologne she bought for him on his 20th birthday. *Darien's apartment? Can this be true, or am I still lying on the bench just dreaming this?* she thought hazily. "Darien?" her voice was weak at first, when she called his name again her voice was stronger. "Darien? Hello? Anyone here?" No response, she swept her legs over the edge of the bed, it was then she noticed she was only wearing a bra and panties, quickly grabbing the top blanket she wrapped it around her. She slid off the edge of the bed slowly; one hand holding the blanket's ends closed around her, and the other she had on the nightstand for support until the rubbery feeling in her legs passed. Slowly as not to fall she made her way to the bedroom doorway. She stood there for a moment, leaning against the doorframe for support she began to hear footsteps outside the front door, about 20 feet away, she heard the sounds of keys shuffling and then inserted into a doorknob. The door began to open. As he opened the door, he was startled to see Serena standing in the bedroom door, with a blanket wrapped around her, she was looking down at the floor. "Serena?" Hearing him call her name and the extreme worry in his voice caused her head to shoot up, but as dizzy as she had been the sudden movement only caused things the spin faster. She an eerie blackness creeping in from the corners of her eyes, she knew she would make a painful connection to the ground, but that connection never came. She opened her eyes, to see that she was in Darien's arms. "Darien?" she hoarsely whispered, but then everything went black. She couldn't' see or hear anything. Everything was black. She shivered in the eerie blackness. She began walking she stopped as she finally saw a small tiny pinpoint of light over the horizon, she ran as fast as she could, but it seemed as if she wasn't getting any closer. Giving up, she closed her eyes, and then opened them again, only to find that she was now standing right in front of the light. She could hear a voice, but she wasn't sure whom it belonged to. She listened closer, it dawned on her then that the voice belonged to Darien. "Serena? Come on. Open your eyes!" Moaning in response she slowly opened her eyes. "W..what happened?" With a sigh of relief he smiled gently. "It's good to see you awake. You look a lot better than when I first brought you here." "Oh." "How are you feeling?" "I'm cold and I've got a headache that could easily split my head in two." Darien laughed lightly. "It's good to know that." "How is that good?" Serena practically shrieked. Wincing in pain at the sudden and unexpected outburst he looked at her then just smiled. "Sorry, what I meant by that was that it is good to see that the cold had no mental side effects on you." "Oh, okay." She hung her head in doubtfulness. "I should have known." "Hey! Don't be so hard on yourself, it wasn't one bit your fault. You just simply forgot, it happens to all of this." *Except for you, you forget more than any other person I know!* he wanted to add. She smiled. "I didn't answer it, but the phone rang while you were out." "Oh, don't worry about it, it was probably just Lita." "Lita? Why would she be calling you?" She asked curiously. "She was worried when you didn't show up. So she called me and I went out looking for you, but I had told her that if I didn't show up at the caf頩n an hour to call back here." Darien could see the pain in her eyes. "HA! I find that really hard to believe. Why would she and Mina care one bit about me it's not like they really ever have cared about me or even you for that matter." She complained. "Serena!" Darien snapped at her, his sudden temper startled her. "You know as well as I do that just because you and the Inner Scouts had a little argument doesn't mean that they don't care about you! And I do care for you Serena with my entire heart. I care more about you than this world and my life put together, I care about you so much because I love you. I have been in love with you since I first met you." "B...but you always teased me." "I know Serena, that was because I didn't know how to express my feelings for you, and I was afraid that if I did that you wouldn't love me the same way and you would back off." "Yo...you really do love me?" she asked with tears in her eyes, one tear slipped from her eye and rolled down her cheek. "Yes, with all my heart." He replied as he wiped away that tear. "Answer this question. Why? Why didn't you just head back home when the storm suddenly got so bad?" "I wanted to get to the caf鬠maybe hoping that they invited me because they wanted to apologize. Besides I was getting tired of sitting around and just doing nothing." "From now on Serena, be more careful. Remember when I had those dreams about you being killed if we got married?" when she nodded he continued. "Well I've been having more dreams, not all are the same, but these dreams are different. A voice is telling me to hold onto you with all my life and to not to let go. I get these visions of you standing as the princess, holding the crystal; you look back at me with tears in your eyes. You whisper 'I'm sorry, but I must go now.' And then you use the power of the crystal to destroy something, but you were wounded; the power of the crystal is too much for you and you are too weak. The enemy isn't destroyed, but you die. I can't have that happen." Serena stared at him in shock, her eyes were wide open staring into nothing, shivering in fear, she pulled the blanket tighter around her, thinking it would stop the shivering, but it did no good, she just kept shivering. Noticing her shivering, Darien cursed himself. "I'm sorry Serena I shouldn't have told you, in your present condition." He gently pulled Serena to him, holding her tight. It felt good to hold her so close. "No...no I am glad that you told me. I guess." "If you want, you've got spare clothes in the bottom drawer of my dresser." Blushing slightly as she remembered that she was wearing barely anything underneath. "Yeah. Thanks." Serena said shyly as she slipped into the bedroom to put on some clothes. Ten minutes later she came out wearing black jeans and a pink t-shirt, though she wasn't wearing any sock or shoes. He smiled sweetly at her. He literally felt the breath taken from his chest; she was breathtakingly beautiful even if she was wearing just jean and a t-shirt, nothing fancy. "Would you like me to drive you home, I mean after all you aren't wearing any socks or shoes." Looking down at her feet, she wiggled her toes and began to laugh. Not knowing why, Darien joined in on the laughter. It felt good to let loose, and have an easy laugh. "Yeah I suppose your right." She burst out laughing again after a minute she clamed enough to talk. "You know, I don't know what is so funny, but it feels really good to laugh right now." "Really? Well that's great." Standing up and walking towards he completely took her off guard; he swept her up in his arms and laughed as she let out a surprised squeal. Standing in front of the front door, he looked down to Serena and said, "Would you mind opening the door, since I can't." She giggled. "Yeah I suppose so." A few minutes later, the two were sitting comfortably in Darien's black Chevrolet Camaro (A.N.- sorry I had to, its my favorite and future car. ^_^;;) driving down the road slowly to avoid the car sliding on the black ice. The heater was on full blast. Curious as to why Serena had been so quiet for the last few minutes, Darien glanced over to see her head resting against the window; she was asleep. *Poor girl, she's gone through such a hell tonight* Darien continued to drive on in silence. Ten minutes later Darien pulled up in front of her apartment. "Serena?" he called, lightly nudging her. "No Luna. Let me sleep five more minutes." Serena mumbled in her sleep. Taken aback at first at her statement, he realized that he needed to speak louder. "Serena, come on, you got to wake up. You are home now." "Huh? Oh, home." She smiled. "Thanks." "Not a problem, especially for the one I love." He winked at her, causing her giggle. "If you'll wait a minute I'll carry you up top the door." "Thank you. You are very sweet Darien." Serena spoke softly. Walking around to her side of the car he opened the door and carefully lifter her out of the car, closing the door with his foot. He walked up the steps that led to her front door, he set her down on the doormat so her feet wouldn't freeze on the cold cement. Taking her keys out she unlocked her front door and stepped in, everything was dark. She turned to Darien. "Thank you again. Have a safe trip ho..." she was cut off as Darien passionately kissed her. "Good night and pleasant dreams." Darien whispered when they parted. "Good night." Serena walked inside as Darien walked back to his car. He was just about to get in when he heard her scream. His mind whirled at the possibilities, but he didn't wait long enough to think any of them through, he rushed back up to the steps, and found that her door was unlocked. "Serena?" there came no answer, "Serena? Answer me!" fumbling through the dark he found a light switch, when he flipped it the light was bright, bright enough to blind him for a moments, but when his eyes adjusted, what he saw made his blood run cold. A man wearing all black stood in the middle of the living room. He was slightly taller than Serena, but he had the same color hair and eyes as her, which Darien found odd. One hand was clamped over her mouth, tilting her head back slightly, and the other held a knife to her throat. "What do you want?" Darien demanded. In a cold, icy voice the guy replied, "I have a message from Master Dracon. It's time to die Sailor Brats!" he laughed evilly. Darien tried stepping closer, but the guy just pulled the knife tighter against her throat and her eyes begged him to just stay where he was. "Let her go!" Smiling wickedly, he brought the knife away from her throat and putting it in its sheath at his waist, but the other hand was still clamped over her mouth. "Sorry pretty girl. I would love to kill you myself, but my master wants the pleasure of killing you all to himself!" taking his hand away from her mouth, he shoved her roughly towards Darien who caught her before she fell. Making sure she was all right and could stand, Darien turned to lunge at the guy, but he had disappeared. "What the..." Looking confused her turned to Serena, who stood where he had left her, with tears in her eyes she stared at the spot where to guy had last been standing. "Serena?" Startled out of her thoughts she looked up to see Darien staring at her curiously. "What?" "What seems to be so interesting about that guy? He tried to kill you!" "Even if Dracon wanted him to kill me...he wouldn't. I...oh forget it you wouldn't understand." She turned away, disgusted. "Serena! Tell me! What are you talking about...'wouldn't understand'...what makes you think I wouldn't understand?" "Forget it! I don't want to talk about it. And like I said 'you wouldn't understand'!" "Try me!" Darien snapped. "You have never had an older bother or sister have you?" looking at his surprised look she continued, "Didn't think so. And because of that you wouldn't understand." "Serena, please don't be this way. Just tell me." "I..." Serena rubbed her neck where the knife had been held, "Can't. I made a promise to him, and it is a promise I will keep. My life hangs on the line, and I don't need to be out on thin ice by breaking that promise." "Fine keep your promise, but you are not going to be leaving any time tonight." "You can't do this! This is my place, you have no control over what I do and I don't do." Serena screamed. "Will you shut up?! You don't want your neighbors hearing you, do you?" Darien hissed. "Right now I don't really care!" "Why you little bitch! I don't want the police here, so just shut your mouth." Tears threatened to burst forth, as she stared in confusion at Darien. "I thought I loved you, but since you obviously don't seem to hold the same opinion...I hate you! I hate you with a great passion! Leave now! Or I will have the Scouts remove you." "You wouldn't dare!" Serena held her wrist up to show that she had activated her communicator, allowing all the scouts to listen to their heated fight. "I DARE! Now LEAVE!" Darien's rage just burned deeper and hotter. "So you gonna get your pretty little Sailor Scouts to remove me eh? Well let them try, their nothing but sniveling WHIMPS!" he said in a lot menacing voice, with quicker reflexes than she could respond to, he slapped her with enough force to send her stumbling backwards into the wall. Covering her head in fear, she hunkered down near the floor. Hw walked towards her ready to deal another punishing blow, when a voice from the doorway made him stop. "Don't you even think of touching her again!" Aria said, dripping wet from running through the pouring rain. "What are you going to do, if I do? O' pitiful warrior!" he sneered. "Star Crystal...POWER!" Aria shouted. Purple, black and sliver light surrounded her, in seconds Aria stood as Sailor Star. Her outfit was the same at the others scouts, except her skirt was black, and her bows were silver. "Star Burst...DAZZLE!" little silver stars surrounded Darien, twinkling brightly, but to him things looked different. *Who...what is going on everything is so dark!* Then suddenly little silver stars began to burst all around him, it was disorienting. When the darkness faded, he stood there looking around bewildered and blinking his eyes rapidly. "LEAVE!" Star shouted. Felling defeated he glared at the sobbing girl on the floor then at Star, he left in a flurrying rage. As he walked past Star, he took a wild swing at the girl, but with quicker reflexes, Star ducked as his arm flew over her head. After missing he quickly darted down the street. "Oh Serena." Star sighed sadly, she kneeled next to the older girl, gently pulling her hands from her face. There was a very large and dark red hand print across the side of her face, she could imagine that I must hurt. "I don't know what got into him, but I do know that he wont hurt you as long as we are around." Sniffling, Serena turned her teary eyes towards the younger girl in front of her, "I know, I know Aria." Smiling, Star stood and detransformed. Now standing as Aria she reached a hand down to Serena, who gratefully took it, to help her up. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been here a minute or two earlier but I ran into a little problem...ice." Looking at the younger girl's painful expression. "Oh, I can just imagine." Serena said with a quirky smile. "Hurts don't it?" "Yeah." "Serena?" Serena turned towards the door to see Mars, Uranus, Neptune, Sun, and Mercury standing in the doorway with worried expressions on their faces "Hi guys." "What is going on?" Uranus questioned. "Right now isn't the best time to talk about this. I don't think anyone of you should know till everything is back as it once was." "Huh?" all the other chorused in union. "Dracon." Serena paused for a moment. "Well I should start from the beginning. Back in the Silver Millennium, when I came of age, my mother held a ball in my honor; that was the night that the Moon Kingdom was attacked and destroyed...but this all started when I was seven, I had an older brother whom I loved dearly. None of you ever knew him; this was before you came to the Moon for your Scout training. It was on my seventh birthday that the Moon Kingdom was attacked by Dracon, he wasn't as powerful then as when he destroyed the Moon Kingdom and I was his target. Serenity, my mother was out trying to fight Dracon, but it was only decoy, while he came after me. My brother stayed with me just in case, we were attacked, Dracon tried to take me, but Troy was taken in my place. So know I have to fulfill my Mother's wish and destroy Dracon, but in order to do that, I must get my brother away from Dracon long enough to heal his memories." "I remember hearing rumors about a guy named Troy, but I never heard that he was your brother." Sun mussed. "Is there anything we can do to help?" Neptune asked quietly. "Luna! Where is Luna?" Serena asked looking around. "I'm right here, battered and bruised but in one piece." She complained. "Luna, do have the crystals?" Serena asked her feline pet. "What crystals?" "The crystals mother gave to me when I came of age. I was supposed to give then to the scouts, but that was when the Moon Kingdom was attacked. The black cat sat staring at Serena for a moment before her eyes went wide in astonishment. "I can't believe I completely forgot about them." The cat stood on all fours then suddenly it back flipped, when the cat landed back on all fours; ten crystals lay floating in front of her. "The rest of the scouts need to come before I can do anything." Serena stated as she went about to call the others. About ten minutes later the other four scouts showed up; Jupiter, Venus, Pluto, and Saturn, they all gathered in Serena's living room. "Kneel down on one knee." Serena said as she too got on one knee. "I have called you all here to awaken a stronger power within you." She laid a round cloth in the middle of the circle that all the girls had made; placing a stone in front of the scout it belonged to, on the cloth. She whispered something that the other could not hear and with a bright flash of light the sliver crystal lay in her hand. "With the powers bestowed upon me, I call upon the powers of the ancient crystals. AWAKEN!" as she said the last word the ten crystal began glowing brightly, the scouts stared in awe as Serena slowly transformed into the Moon Princess. "Take the crystal in front of you." Each scout reached out for the crystal the lay in front of them, each stone began to glow the color of that scouts color. Venus's was orange, Jupiter's was emerald green, Mar's was fiery red, Mercury's was light blue, Pluto's was deep forest green, Neptune's was aqua blue, Uranus's was midnight blue, Saturn's was purple, Sun's was yellow and Stars was slivery purple. Serena closed her eyes and began to concentrate. The crescent moon on her forehead and the sliver crystal glowed brightly, and with gasps of shock the crystals disappeared, it all happened too quickly for them to tell where the crystals went. "Where did the crystals go?" Jupiter asked. "They are within you now. Protect them well and they will give you eternity of life, just as the Silver Crystal had me." Serena said softly. "Now stand." The eleven girls stood, and as they stood their transformations fell, their transformation pens fell to the floor and crumbled to dust. They are gasped in horror. "What are we going to do without our transformation pens?" Sierra asked. "Just say your planet and the crystal power." Serena replied. "SUN CRYSTAL POWER!" Sierra cried out as she transformed into Sailor Sun. The others followed suit. As they transformed they could feel something within themselves, like something awakening. They all detransformed and sat on the floor. "Interesting." Amy mumbled, "Oh no, I almost forgot. I have to get back home and continue studying!" Everyone else sighed. This was the Amy they have always known. Rarely could anything part her from her studies. "Amy..." Serena said softly, "I need everyone to stay here tonight. I don't know how, but with the awakening of the crystals, something within the Silver Crystal has changed, it allows me to see and know if something is going to happen. It allows me to feel the tremendous power that our enemy has. We need to stay in a group, if we were to go our own ways tonight and all show up at different times during the battle, we will all be destroyed, me being the first." They stared at their princess in shock, not knowing what to think. To think whether she was thinking harshly of herself because of what happened with Darien, or whether she was telling the truth. "Why would you be the first one? Why not one of us? We are all equally targets to be the first to die." Pluto stated. "Because it is me he had a grudge with. Like I said, it was me he wanted back in the Silver Millennium. To be his servant or worse, be his maiden and bear his child, a child of pure evil. That is why my brother protected me; he knew the type. Our father was much like Dracon, but without the heart of pure evil." A solitary tear escaped her eyes and rolled down her face. Looking up to meet the worried glances of her court she continued, "Dracon would rather take you as his servants first than kill you. His hatred for me is so strong he'd wait another thousand years to kill me." "We will stay. Not only for the reason of having to be together all at once, but for the fact that friends sticks together through thick and thin. And we ARE YOUR friends." Trista smiled kindly. "Yeah, we will always be your friends, not matter what may happen between us." Mina added, holding up to fingers in a V for victory. "You can count on us! From now to the end of eternity!" Raye put in. "Thanks you guys. I make me feel like the happiest person in the world to know that I have such good friends. Group hug?" Serena replied trying to hold back tears. Everyone came around Serena, trying to hug her. Anyone who passed by would have thought that the person in the center was more than possibly dead. "Uh...ok, you can let me go now! I can't breath!" Serena tried to say, but came out in mumbled words. They all stepped back and began laughing uncontrollably at Serena, she sat on the floor looking bemused. "Well I think I'll speak for everyone on this. All of us should go home and gather a few items of clothing and such." Michelle said. Everyone nodded. "Agreed. Take your time getting back." Serena said cheerfully. Everyone began filling out the door and on to their own separate ways. Serena stood in the doorway, waving goodbye to her friends. "See ya in a little!" She yelled down the street. "Now I can finally relax. She plopped down on her couch and turned the TV on. About five minutes later she fell into a light sleep, and was jolted awake by the sounds of the phone ringing. She walked over to her phone, glancing at the caller ID. It was Darien. "Hello?" she answered the phone in a flat voice. "Serena. Um I just called to say that..." "Save your words Darien. They are of no use to me. My job is almost done. I have awoken the powers of the ten Millennium Crystals and have been presented to their owners; the only thing left in my way is Dracon. I will tell you this; His days are up! I will NOT tell you when. If you happen to show up at the battle...STAY OUT! If I am hurt, let me live with the pain. If I am dying, let me die." "SERENA! Would you shut up! I was going to say I was sorry, that I just blew up because of the pain I had to see you suffer. I love you Serena and you know it." "I am sorry to say this, but I can't truly say that the feelings are mutual!" She slammed the phone down; tears welled in her eyes as she gently rubbed her sore cheek, form where Darien had slapped her. After slamming the phone down, she sat on the couch thinking back to the time of the Silver Millennium and her brother. She missed him greatly, missed his jokes, anything a big brother would do to cheer his little sister up; she missed. Staring at the wall in front of her she let her mind drift back to a memory long ago in the Silver Millennium. ~~~~~~~~~~ It was a quiet and peaceful day. A little girl and a much older boy were seen walking happily through the Gardens of Joy; as the were called. The two sat on a bench near a patch of yellow and white roses. "So little sis...what do you want for your seventh birthday?" The older boy asked curiously. "I don't know. Um...do...do you think that...uh maybe...you could...uh...cometobybirthdayparty!" she blurted the last sentence in one word. He only sat there looking at her questioningly as her last sentence finally registered as more than one word. "You want me to come to your birthday party?" looking at the girl; she nodded, "Well what are big brothers for? Just to stand around and do nothing? Of course I will Serena, you are my little sister." He reached behind them and broke off a small white flower, which he tucked them stem of, behind one of her ears. "Now you look like a true queen." She stood and twirled in circle, pretending she was a queen. She became too dizzy to stand when she stopped twirling. She fell back on her bottom. Her face wrinkled in disappointment as her brother laughed. *Troy is such a good brother to her.* Serenity thought as she watched the two walking back towards the palace. *Well I guess I should go to the ball room where everybody else is waiting.* "Now just stay right here for one minute. I am going to go inside the room and when I tell you, you can come in. All right?" Serena nodded quickly. She had no idea that what lay behind that door, would be the best but worst day of her life. "Okay! You can come in now." She heard his voice call out from within the room. It was dark; she couldn't see anything around her. "Mama? Papa? Troy?" there was no answer; she was getting scared. "SURPRISE!" everyone from within the room shouted as the lights suddenly flashed on. She stared at the congregation of people. Then smiled broadly, as she ran up to her mother and father, hugging their legs. "Thank you! Thank you!" she yelled happily. "Anything for my little girl." He father said proudly as he picked her up. Squealing happily she threw her arms around his neck. The room became quiet as the ground began to shake and a rumbling round could be heard from outside. As the rumbling grew louder, so did the shaking. It suddenly stopped. An evil laugher could be heard; it was loud and menacing; frightening little Serena. "TROY!" Michael shouted as he saw the boy about ten feet away. He ran quickly over to him. "Take your sister and RUN! Don't look back! And when you can try to find someplace to hide. Now please go!" he handed Serena to her brother and shoved them towards the door. He ran as quickly as possible down the empty corridors, without slipping. Then quickly reached the main entrance. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he did know that it had to be Dracon. He almost bolted out the main entrance until he noticed that Dracon, his minions and his army of monster stood out front the palace. Carefully, without attracting the attention of the monsters he back stepped until he was inside the palace once more. Turning he headed for the back exit; it would lead them to the gardens. *I can't hide in the gardens! What am I going to do, I've got to protect my sister!* His mind swirled with ideas of places to hide, but each one was ruled out. "THE CRYSTAL CAVES!" he suddenly shouted. He didn't care if her died, but he knew he would kill himself if anything were to happen to his little sister. The fear for her life growing deeper within him, he ran faster, the fear pumping his legs as he ran. They were not even half way to the caves when the ground seemed to split open before him. He couldn't in time. As they plummeted over the edge, he quickly grabbed the edge of the opening. Knowing that he shouldn't, he looked down; the crack seemed to go on forever. He could hear his sister crying into the back of his back, she too had probably looked down when he did. After trying desperately to find a foothold, he found one, but when he tried to put the full weight on it, it crumbled. Pain shot through his sides as he felt as if his shoulders were going to tear out of their sockets. The jolt had been forceful enough to cause little Serena to loosen her grip. She screamed as she frantically clung to his back. "Please don't let me fall! PLEASE! I'm scared!" "I know Serena I know! I am scared too. Just hang tight!" He'd found anther foothold and this time he was sure it would hold. Carefully and slowly he lifted himself up in the foothold. It was holding. With the support of the foothold, he took one hand off the ledge and reached behind him. "Serena, grab onto my arm. I am going to try to get you up to the top. Don't worry I won't let you fall." She gripped him arm with a vise like grip as he carefully pushed her to the top. When she was near the top she almost jumped as she got to the top, but waited till she was closer. When she was closer she pulled herself over the edge. Remembering her brother, she kneeled next to the edge of the crack. "Come on Troy! You can do it." With her encouragement he pulled himself up. Sitting near the edge he looked down the crack again. *That would have been one hell of a way to die.* Turning to his sister, he pulled her to him and held her in a comforting hug. "Oh how touching!" a voice snickered. The two stood and turned to see a man wearing a gray uniform and white hair standing not far from them. In one of his hands he held a dark blackish red crystal. "Who are you?" Troy shouted. "I am the one who is to capture the Princess and train her to be one of us!" the man laughed, throwing the crystal at the little girl. Troy quickly pushed her out of the way, but the crystal hit him instead of his sister. He disappeared in a flash of light. He had been captured inside the crystal. "Blast that stupid boy!" the man shouted. "Gimme back my brother!" Serena cried. Not wanting to put up with the little girl he shot a beam of dark energy at her. She screamed in pain as the beam hit her. She was knocked backwards, falling close to the edge of the crack. He walked towards her, ready to kick the unconscious little girl into the chasm, when a large hand grabbed him from behind. He whirled to be met by a large fist. Michael shook his hand quickly as he stared at the man. Kneeling next to Serena, he carefully gathered her fragile and small body in his arms. He cradled her like baby as he quickly ran back to the palace, never noticing the crystal. Soon after the crystal disappeared. Serenity sat near the edge of the bed, as her little girl began to come around. "Serena?" she called gently. With much effort she opened her eyes. "Mama?" then looking around her room she said, "Where's Troy?" "I don't know baby. I don't know." Sadness filled her voice. Serena curled herself into a little ball and began crying. "Shh! It's all right, we will find him." Her voice cracked as tears began to slip down he cheeks. ~~~~~~~~~~ "Serena?" She turned to see Aria standing in the doorway. "Yeah?" "Is something wrong?" "No, I was just thinking about something that happened when I was a little girl." "Oh ok. Hey how about a friendly game of slap happy?" Aria smiled as she held up a deck of playing cards. "Why not?" Serena laughed as she sat with the girl on either side of the table. They had become so engaged in their game that they lost track of time; the girls were beginning to show. An hour later found all of the girls sitting in sleeping bags, in a circle chatting noisily. "Do you know when the final battle with Dracon will be?" Michelle asked Serena. "Not exactly. I know it will be within three days, but I fear his power is growing stronger by the day." "What happened with Darien?" "I don't know and I don't care. I know he wont be at the battle, but if he is he is not to interfere!" Serena stared becoming a little edgy and snappy. "Well it is getting late, and if the battle ends up being tomorrow; I do want to have my beauty sleep." Mina said. Everyone sighed. "Yes. She is right, well almost. We should be getting out rest instead of talking. Which can be done in the morning." Amy pointed out. "Well good night." Serena said yawning. Everyone got out of their sleeping bags and moved out of the circle. Even Serena brought out her sleeping bag to be with her friends instead of her nice comfy bed in the next room. *Maybe she has matured more than I thought she has. I sure hope the scouts win this battle.* Luna thought to herself as she went and snuggled with Artemis. ***Three days later*** "Serena are you sure about what the crystal told you? I mean it's been three days and still nothing ahs happened." Luna questioned. She didn't answer, she was staring up at the sky. The day had turned dark and cloudy. She shivered, not from cold but from fear. "It'll be soon. Today, soon." She answered finally. "Are you sure?" Artemis asked. "Yes, just look at the sky. This is how it looked about an hour before I left to go to the caf頴hree days ago. And I haven't heard anything on the new about a storm. It was the same way three days ago. It was supposed to be sunny and clear, but I nearly died, from the freezing temperatures. It's about the only thing I can think of the explain it." "Yeah I remember hearing on the news is was supposed to actually hot today, but here it is cold and almost rainy." Heather said. The group walked to the park hoping to find a little peace and quiet. They found some empty benches near the pond, they sat admiring the curious baby ducklings. "I would hate to see this all destroyed." Heather mumbled. Everyone stared at her in shock. "I mean look at how beautiful this park is, even if it is a dark gloomy outside. I know I am the Scout of destruction, but I do take joy in going places that are as beautiful as this. Its what makes Earth, Earth." "It doesn't matter whether or not you are the Scout of destruction. It's your heart that matters. You are a wonderful and caring friend Heather, and to me that is what matters." Serena said softly. Heather looked over into Serena's eyes, thinking she'd find the real truth, that she was making it all up, but instead she found, sadness and sincerity. "You meant that didn't you?" "Of course. I would never lie, to ANY of you!" She emphasized the word carefully. A sudden bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree, startling the girls. The sky became completely black, as the lamps came on for the sudden turn of darkness, they exploded. Serena stood, her arms straight at her side, her eyes darted wildly around the park as she whispered: "This is it, the end." The others stood ready to transform. Though if someone were to look at them they would look ready, but on the inside they were scared. "COME OUT FROM WHEREVER YOU ARE HIDDING!" Serena yelled into the darkness. She could sense the evil around them, it was extremely powerful. A dark figure stepped out from behind the trunk of a tree, he wore a dark green shirt and black pants, his hair was a blonde, similar in color to Serena's. "So you are the all mighty and powerful Sailor Scouts? A bunch of pitiful girls, what a laugh, just wait till my master hears about this." He laughed wickedly. "Well we'll see about that!" Lita snarled. "JUPITER...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "VENUS...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "PLUTO...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "MERCURY...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "STAR...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "SUN...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "NEPTUNE...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "URANUS...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "MARS...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "SATURN...CRYSTAL...POWER!" Few of the scouts looked at their leader, waiting for her to transform, but she didn't she just stood there staring at the figure awkwardly. "Troy?" it came out as a mere whisper, with a louder voice she continued. "It IS you. Oh Troy I have waited over a thousand years just to see you again. Won't you join us?" "What are you talking about? I know no one of the name Troy. Stupid girl!" he laughed as shot a ball of black energy at her. She only stood watching it. Her smile not fading in fear as he had expected. As the ball hit her, she closed her eyes as white and silver light surrounded her. The ball passed right though her; she now stood as Princess Serena. "Do not fear me my Brother, I will heal you and you will join us in the fight against Dracon." "Do you really expect me to listen to that nonsense? How foolish." He laughed. A small silver ball formed in the palm of her hand, as the light faded it became gold in color. "Here. CATCH!" she threw to crystal to him, ignoring all the protests from the Scouts. He caught the golden crystal easily. "What is this?" his breath caught in his throat as memories flooded into his mind. "No, no this is not true! Dracon has always been my father! AHHHH! NO!" gold light erupted from the crystal; surrounding him in a golden cocoon. When the light faded, he was wearing nearly all white. He wore a white outfit with gold armor, to which connected a white cape with gold lining. At his right was a scabbard; the grip of the sword sticking out, as if waiting for its master to unleash it power upon evil. As he opened him eyes, the Scouts could see the darkness in them was gone; they sparkled like a bright blue ocean, much like Serena's. "Troy?" Serena asked as she took a hesitant step towards him. Pluto grabbed Serena's arm. He looked up upon hearing his name. He smiles as he recognized his sister. "Serena? It has been so many long years since I last saw you. Look at you. Mother would be so proud." "Oh Troy." Serena cried as she slipped out of Pluto's grip and ran to her brother; quickly embracing him. "I never thought I would see you again." "You will never have to worry about that again. With the crystal I am protected from any evil intruding my mind." He held her tighter as she cried. Enjoying the feeling of holding his sister in his arms once more. Holding her at arms length he gently brushed away the tears. "Geesh, you are nearly as tall as I am. The last time I remember seeing you, you were only seven." He thought of something, which quickly made his smile turn into a frown. "Troy?" "I...who are they?" he asked uncertainly. "They are the Sailor Scouts of the Silver Millennium. You don't remember them, because Mother formed the Sailor Scouts after you were taken. I was twelve when they were formed. It's a long story." Serena smiled as she half read his mind. "Oh..." looking up to the sky he whispered "It's time for good." Serena hung her head. "I know Brother, I know. I just wish I had a little more courage." "It not courage that makes a person strong. It's their will. Their will for goodness to be spread throughout the lands. But above all of that, the most important thing to defeating Dracon will be you love. Your love for goodness, happiness. Remember this carefully. It might come in handy when battling Dracon." "I will remember." Serena said softly, holding her hand out to her brother; he took her hand and allowed her to lead him to the group of Scouts that awaited her return. "We must go now." They nodded forming a circle around the two. ***Dracon's world: Nemesis*** The arrival of the ten Scouts and the Prince and Princess was not much of a surprise to Dracon. Hid anger and hatred grew deeper as he noticed that the pesky Princess had healed her brother. *She will die for that!* "Well, well it's the Sailor Scouts. Looks like I've got you stuck in a knot. Your time had come to die! Only one must rule this universe, and that one person WILL BE ME!" Dracon laughed as they tried to fee themselves from a rope tied tightly around them all. It seemed useless. Serena concentrated her energy through the Silver Crystal, it seemed to be burning the rope. It was working and with a final tug it broke; everybody stumbled forward cheering, thinking that is was their strength that had broke the rope, until they turned to Serena who was collapsed on the ground. "SERENA!" all the scouts yelled at once. Troy was the first to her, he held her in his lap. "Why Serena?" "I had to. We would never have got out of that rope." Serena whispered, so softly that he had to lean closer to hear her. "Promise never to do that again! Using that much energy with the crystal is too dangerous for either of us to handle, even Mother wouldn't be able to do that for too long." Troy said sternly. "Promise." Serena whispered. Troy stood, lending a hand to help her up. She stood next to him, leaning on him for support. "What happened?" Sun asked. "She focused her energy through the Silver Crystal to burn the rope, but no one has ever been able to do it for too long or they die. That's what almost happened with Serena." He explained carefully. Serena seemed distracted. She was looking around, it almost seemed to the others that she was examining the room. "I can use the Silver Crystal to find our way out and to Dracon. We don't have much time to lose he is preparing to attack earth and destroy it." "But..." Pluto started to say before she cut off by Serena. "It is now or never." Serena held the crystal out in front of her. "Silver Crystal...show us the path out of here and to Dracon." The crystal rose into the air and headed towards a dark corner. "Who would have thought." Jupiter snickered. The crystal lea them down a long, dark passage way. It got colder the closer they got to Dracon. It seems they had been walking forever when they finally saw light just down he tunnel. Laughter emanated from the entranceway. "Those stupid Scouts will never get free of that rope, once the use up all their energy I will torture them with the sight of me tearing apart their precious pesky princess." Shivers ran down all their backs, it was one scene the hoped they would never have to see. Serena cautiously walked into the room. The crystal still in front of her, she looked up Dracon. He looked like a red dragon of sorts, but had no tail. He eyes were black, like a hole in space. "You may thing you will take the pleasure of killing me, but not before I have destroyed you once and for all. This universe does not belong to you nor will it ever belong to you!" "Oh your words make me shiver in fear. Think again silly Princess. I killed your mother after she sent you all to Earth. I went back and tore her limb from limb, just like I am going to do to you." His words brought on more and more anger until she was no long able to control herself. "SILVER CRYSTAL...ELIMINATE ALL EVIL!" she yelled as the crystal grew brighter, to the point where it became blinding. "We have to help her!" The rest filled into the blinding room forming and arc behind her, Troy in the middle with five Scouts to each side of him. "MOON...COSMIC...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "PLUTO...PLANET...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "MARS...PLANET...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "NEPTUNE...PLANET...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "URANUS...PLANET...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "STAR...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "MERCURY...PLANET...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "SUN...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "JUPITER...PLANET...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "SATURN...PLANET...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "VENUS...PLANET...CRYSTAL...POWER!" With both hands held together in front of them they focused all of their crystals' energy into Serena. They watched in wonder, praying that it would work. "Nnn...o, no! This can't be happening. Not now, I was meant to rule this universe!" he screamed as he started to turn to stone. As the light faded, the stone began to crumble. The Scouts, the Princess and Princess were the only thing left. The Scouts cheered happily for the had been able to help destroy Dracon, but the amount of power the crystals had used, it did not drain them of all their energy. All except for Serena. She fell to the floor as her legs collapsed from underneath her. She sat in a crumpled heap and sobbed into her hands. She had used most all of her energy, not only then but when she had burned through the ropes. Troy kneeled before her. "What's wrong? Why are you crying, we won?" His concern for his sister growing deeply. "He killed our Mother, he killed our Father, and he killed everyone on the Moon. We are the only survivors. I don't know if I can live knowing that there is no hope for the Moon Kingdom to be restored." He smiled gently. "Come on, let's go home. I have some catching up to do." "All right." She sighed as silent tears still ran down her face. ***Back on Earth*** Darien sat on a park bench feeling lonely. He had tried to call Serena, but she didn't answer, and when he went to her place she was not there. He had searched all over town looking for one of the girls hoping they knew where Serena was, but he never found any of them. It was getting late, and no one was in the park anymore. He decided to head home, when he was startled by a sudden burst of light. He ran to where it had come from and was shocked to see what he saw. *It's them!* The Scouts sighed deeply as they detransformed. They began chattering loudly. Serena though, remained quiet as she leaned against a boy about his age. He had no clue who it was, it enraged him to see HIS Serena leaning on some guy he didn't even know. He rushed towards the group. Serena spotted him before the others did. "Darien?" she stood and walked towards him. "It's over. It's finally over!" "What is all over?" "The battle, Dracon! He's gone!" "Are you sure?" "Yes I saw the power of the Silver Crystal destroy him myself. Well and with the help of the other crystals." "Who is he?" "He's my brother. I will explain everything later, but for now lets go to my place. All of us." Everyone nodded as they continued their chattering on the way to Serena's apartment. "Speaking of explanations you owe me an explanation about the Scout, and Darien!" Troy reminded his sister. "I know. I know!" Serena sighed as she led them all back to her apartment. ****I am proud of you my son and daughter. Now I can finally move on to a happier place. May your futures be what your wishes ask!**** Serenity's voice faded as she watched them walk away in victory. THE END!!!