Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Little Older, A Little Wiser ❯ Venus Awakened ( Chapter 5 )

Serena was standing in her kitchen staring at the empty refrigerator. There was absolutely nothing to eat in this apartment. No bread, no cheese, no milk, no eggs, to pasta, no rice, nothing. No food.

Finally she sighed and closed the fridge.

And Darien had classes early tomorrow so she didn't want to go over to his place to raid his fridge. He had already given up a lot to live on Tokyo with her. She was not going to screw up his classes by keeping him up all night just so she could eat. If all else fails she could just actually go grocery shopping. After all, that would be the mature thing to do.

Serena finally found a bag of popcorn. Ah, dinner. Yum. All right. This coming weekend she decided she would go shopping. Defiantly. Maybe. Probably.

She settled down in front of the television and decided to make the most out of her popcorn by popping in a movie. Something good...She grabbed Lady Hawke from its place wedged between the Princess Bride and the Last Unicorn. Always a fan of romance and comedy, this movie was perfect for her mood tonight.

She was half way through her bag of popcorn when a small black shape landed in her lap.

"Luna!" She cried, picking up the cat in an enormous hug.

"Where's Artemis?" Serena asked after setting the small cat back down.

"He's still in London. With Mina." Luna replied with a small purr.

"With Mina? You found her? What do you mean with Mina?" Serena demanded, switching off the movie.

For the next hour Luna filled Serena in on what had happened to the two cats in London. Serena asked several questions, some of which Luna couldn't answer.

"I need to tell Rei and Darien." Serena said, grabbing the phone next to the couch.

They would have to decide what they were going to do. Mina was obviously happy with her life. She was both a model and the owner of a modeling type agency. It must have been like a dream come true for her.

Serena called Rei first and told her everything that she had just learned from Luna. The two talked for a long time before deciding that it would be best if the three of them met at the temple the next day. Agreeing, Serena hung up and dialed Darien.

"Hullo?" A sleepy voice answered the phone.

"Oh my god, Darien. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." Serena said with a guilty look at the clock. It was past ten already.

"Hey Serena. Don't worry about it. What's up?"

"I'm so sorry. It's just that Luna is back and they found Mina and I thought you would want to know." Serena said in a rush.

"They found her? That's awesome!" Darien replied.

Serena relaxed a little at hearing how excited he was. She hadn't realized it was as late as it was a she felt horrible for waking him up, especially since she had already made a conscious decision once this night to let him get some rest. She gave him a brief explanation of what had happened and told him about the meeting tomorrow. He promised to be there and then had gone back to bed.

Serena hung up the phone with a sigh.

She didn't want to be one of those clingy girlfriends either who had to spend their every waking moment with their boyfriend. Even though that was exactly what she wanted to do. But she knew that both of them needed some occasional space. He had never told her but she knew that his friends from America thought he was insane for moving to Tokyo for some girl. And she really couldn't blame them. If one of her friends had done such a big change for someone they had met over the summer, she would have questioned how smart the idea was too. So she tried to be a good girlfriend, to give Darien time to do schoolwork and hang out with other people. But it was still hard sometimes to reign herself in. Especially since being with him made the world perfect.

And she took extra pains to let him do his schoolwork. Serena had just barely managed to get though high school and graduate, it had been hard enough when she had still been living with her parents but after she had moved out, things had just gotten harder. But she had managed and was grateful that it was over. She knew how important becoming a doctor was to Darien though. He had worked so hard to get where he was. And Serena, while she knew that he loved her, sometimes felt that she wasn't smart enough for him.

* * * * *

The next day Rei, Serena and Darien were all gathered at the temple. Luna was telling them everything about her trip to London and what they had found.

"I don't know Rei, Mina sounds like she is really well set up." Serena said.

"That doesn't mean she doesn't have the right to know who she is." Rei snapped back.

"I know. Well, I guess this means we are going on a small trip, huh?"

"All three of us." Darien added, hugging Serena from behind, "You two need someone to help you beat off all the English guys."

"But...what about school?" Serena asked, biting her lip.

"Don't worry about it. If tomorrow's Friday. If we leave after my last class at noon I won't be missing anything. Besides, some things are more important than a class or two."

Serena twisted around in his arms and gave him a quick kiss, "You really are too good for me."

"Can I have that in writing for the next time you are mad at me?" He asked with a smirk.

"Oooh you!" she said, hitting him playfully.

"Ahem." Luna said, causing the couple to smile sheepishly.

"Hey Luna, I want you to go back ahead of us and let Artemis know what is going on, okay." Serena asked.

Luna nodded, "I'll head out once we are done here."

"Thanks Luna. I want Artemis to know all the plans too." Serena said.

* * * * *

Artemis was stretched out in the floor in a splash of warm sunlight. He knew that winter was coming up soon here and he wanted to soak up as much warmth as possible. Suddenly in became colder as something blocked the window. Grumbling he opened one eye to see Luna standing there in the window.

"Hey Luna, you're blocking my sun." He said as calmly as possible.

"Artemis, you are impossible." Luna said with a small laugh as she jumped down.

"You love me, you know it." Artemis said jokingly and almost bit his tongue.

Luna gave him a strange look, "Maybe. Anyway, Serena is coming tomorrow, that's why I'm here."

"Serena's coming? Good, because I've got news too. I think that our enemy has been attacking people here too." Artemis said.

"What?!" Luna yelped, jumping down to where Artemis was laying.

"I'm not sure but last night while Mina was watching the news I heard them mention that there has been an odd epidemic that leaves people extremely tired for several days. That sounds like how they are explaining the attacks in Tokyo."

"No wonder we haven't seen much of them lately, they found new hunting grounds." Luna muttered angrily.

"Well, when Mina is given her pen, then we will talk to Serena and see what she wants to do.

"But..."

"Luna, we can only deal with one problem at a time. First Mina, then the monsters in London." Artemis said sternly.

Luna sighed, "Alright."

"Good, now come share all this wonderful sun with me instead of blocking it." Artemis said, closing his eyes and rolling on his back so he could sun his stomach.

"Silly moron." Luna said with a smile, lying down beside him.

* * * * *

"Hey! Who said you could have guests?" A surprised voice woke the two cats up.

Mina was looking down at her white cat, name still undecided, and the black cat that was curled up next to him. The white cat merely opened one eye and she could almost swear the thing was laughing at her. The black cat was staring at her with wide, surprised eyes.

"Shh. Its okay honey. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at that white fur ball over there. He's only been here a couple days and he already thinks he owns the place." Mina said, extending her fingers towards the black cat. It looked a lot like hers. They even had the same odd mark on their foreheads.

The black cat cautiously sniffed Mina's hand once politely before sitting back on her haunches.

"Well, you definitely have more dignity that that fellow." Mina said, glaring at the white cat, "I suppose you can stay here tonight for dinner if you want. She said, heading towards the kitchen.

* * * * *

"Stupid cats....think this is shelter...talking to myself now....going insane before I'm thirty..." Mina's muttering could be heard from the kitchen as she made dinner for herself and grabbed two cans of cat food.

"Hee hee, I can't wait till she knows the truth." Artemis said with an amused glance towards the kitchen.

"She'll kill you." Luna said matter of factly.

"Probably, but its worth it."

* * * * *

A robed woman stood before a similar robed man.

"Well?"

"He almost has enough energy for us to begin." The woman stated.

"And the other thing?"

"We have narrowed down the search for Sailor Moon to a temple. Her energy signature is all over the place. It might be her base. I'm not sure. The temple priestess is the only one who lives there but I do not believe that she is Sailor Moon."

"What about Sailor Mars?"

"We don't have enough information on Sailor Moon's ally to let us make a guess."

"Alright. Keep constant surveillance on that temple and watch our hotheaded partner as well. He is becoming too independent for my taste."

"Yes, my love."

* * * * *

Mina was stretched out comfortably on her couch petting the white cat that she had acquired less than a week ago.

"Okay, okay, names...Let's see, Snowball is out. How about Lucifer? After all, you're no Angel, despite that white coat of yours. Okay, no. Um.... Fluffy?" She asked with a twinkle in her eye.

The white cat looked up at her and she felt the slightest prick of claws on her arm.

"Alright, alright, no to Fluffy too." Mina laughed.

Just then there was a knock at her door. Checking through the peephole she saw two women and one guy standing outside on her step.

"Damn. Why is it always two girls and a guy? Why can't it ever be two hot guys? Minus the girl?" She asked the cat who had come to the door with her.

"Hello?" She asked as she opened the door.

The blonde in the middle smiled and Mina had a brief thought that this woman would have made a great model. Maybe that was why she was there. Actually, all three of them had such unique looks that she would have loved to use them in a couple up coming photo shoots.

"Hello, my name is Serena and these are my friends, Rei and Darien." the blonde began hesitantly, her Japanese accent giving away her origins.

"Would you rather speak in Japanese?" Mina asked, switching over. She had spent a lot of time in Japan as a child and the language was almost as familiar to her as English.

The blonde smiled at her gratefully, "Yes, thank you. I'm afraid it's been awhile since I took English in school and I was never good at it to begin with."

"I understand. School and I didn't mix too well either." Mina said with a grin.

"Would you mind talking to us for a moment? It is about the cat that you found in the subway a few days ago."

"Oh." Mina said, realizing that these might be the cat's owners with a sinking feeling in her gut. She had grown attached to the fur ball. "Would you like to come in?"

"Yes, thank you."

The trio walked in and sat on the couch while Mina took one of the chairs.

"So, are you his owners?" Mina asked.

"No. Artemis is your cat if he's anybody's." The blonde said with a laugh.

"I don't think I understand." Mina said, puzzled. Just then she saw the black cat from the other night sitting at the man's feet. "Hey, that cat was here last night!"

"Yes. This is Luna. The white one's name is Artemis." The girl stated, picking up the black cat and petting it.

"Artemis, hmmm? Well, that is better than Fluffy, I guess." Mina said absently as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Fluffy?" the blonde managed to spit out in surprise before falling into the guy, Darien, sitting next to her, giggling helplessly. The other girl and the guy both seemed to be trying not to smile as Artemis stalked stiff legged to a corner and began to ignore them as only a cat could.

"I'm sorry." The girl said as she tried to regain her composure. "Anyways, I have something of yours. We came to return it to you." Serena said, pulling out an orange pen.

"This isn't mine." Mina said, taking the pen curiously. It was quite beautiful, the gold symbol of Venus on the outside complementing the orange well.

"Yes, it is. But you won't remember having owned it, so don't worry about it." The girl looked like she wanted to continue but couldn't find the words.

"That pen is your history." The raven-haired girl, Rei spoke up. "If you open it, you will finally learn who you are."

"But there is a price." The blonde said quickly.

"There is always a price." Rei said, "But some things are worth it."

Serena looked at her friend for a moment before turning back to Mina, "If you open the pen, there is no going back. You seem to have a good life going here and I don't want you to lose it. And that may be a consequence of opening that thing."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Mina said, beginning to think that she had just let three complete loonies into her apartment.

"Don't worry about in Mina. You're not really supposed to understand. We'll head out now. That was all we came for." Serena said standing up. The other two stood as well and followed her to the door.

As they were filing out Serena hesitated for a moment and pulled out a card with her name and several phone numbers written on it.

"Have you ever heard of the hero Sailor V?" She asked as she handed it to Mina.

"Yes, of course." Mina said, wondering what this was about.

"Give me a call if you ever meet her."

And with that the three people headed out, the black cat trotting at their heels.

"What the hell? Sailor V is a video game hero. How would I ever meet her?" Mina asked as she threw the card down on her coffee table next to the orange pen.

"And what do you know about this whole thing, hmmm?" She asked the white cat sitting at her feet.

He just looked up at her, and she sighed.

"Sure, plead the fifth on me. Geesh." She said, heading towards the kitchen to start dinner.

* * * * *

"So, what do you think?" Serena asked as they walked towards the hotel they were staying at.

"I don't know." Darien replied.

"If Mina doesn't open the pen on her own, Artemis will find a way to get her to do it." Rei stated matter of factly.

Serena sighed, "I just hope this all works out."

"It will. Now, let's go check out those news reports that Artemis mentioned to Luna." Darien said, wrapping an arm around Serena.

* * * * *

Mina was taking a walk through Kensington Park, trying to clear her mind and figure out what had happened the other night. She couldn't stop thinking about the people that had shown up yesterday. Finally she had decided that she needed to go for a walk and get some fresh air.

Those people had been insane and yet...there was something about all of them that seemed almost familiar. And they had that black cat with them, Luna. The one that had been in her house the other night. And Artemis had obviously known them. But they had said that he was her cat. What exactly did that mean? Did they used to own him and were giving him to her? Was this some new program of the Human Society to help bring up adoption rates?

And what did a video game hero have to do with anything?

Suddenly, up ahead of her she heard a scream.

She raced towards the sound and stopped in her tacks as she saw a young woman being attacked by...something. She had never seen anything like it. The only word that seemed to fit was monster. Suddenly the things claws hit the woman and she collapsed on the ground.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Mina shouted.

As the monster turned towards her, she cursed, "Shit, shit, shit. Smooth move Mina."

The monster slowly began to walk towards her, almost like it was stalking her. Her brain was working in overdrive, trying to figure out how to escape.

"Mina!" She heard someone yell.

Both she and the monster turned towards the voice but all that she saw was her cat, Artemis.

"Mina! Open the pen!" Artemis yelled.

"What the hell?! You can talk?" Mina shouted in shock.

"The pen! Now!" Artemis shouted as the monster leapt at her. She grabbed the orange pen that Serena had given her and ripped off the cap. Just before the flood of memories hit her she saw Artemis leap onto the monsters face and heard the monster howl in anger.

Then, there were a thousand images and feelings as her memories came rushing back into her. Memories of being Sailor Venus, of betrayals and deaths, oaths of loyalty to a long destroyed kingdom and friendships that had beaten death himself.

But before she could process everything, the part of her that was Sailor Venus came roaring to the surface, in full battle readiness, sensing evil near. When she opened her eyes, she only had a moment to take in Artemis laying on the ground, the monster hovering over him before she attacked.

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!"

A gold chain formed in her hand and whipped forward, encircling the surprised monster and holding it. But the monster was putting a lot of strain on her chain with its struggles. The chain wouldn't be able to contain it much longer.

"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!"

A beam of pure light came from her hand and hit the struggling monster. A scream of pain tore through the quiet of the park and a flash of bright light blinded anyone who might have been in the area. When the light finally faded, the monster was gone, destroyed.

Venus collapsed on the ground, drained from the power needed for those attacks, attacks that she had not used in such a long time, and crawled towards the white form laying unmoving on the grass.

"Artemis?"

* * * * *

Serena clutched the seat and Luna dug her claws into Serena's leg as Darien took the final turn at a frightening speed into the veterinary's parking lot. In the back seat of the rental car, Rei was already unbuckling her seat belt. Almost before the car was even in park the four of them, Rei, Serena, and Darien, were out of the car and racing towards the entrance. Inside they saw Mina, sitting in the waiting area.

Mina looked up as the three of them came crashing in to the room and gave them all a weak smile.

"Hey guys, long time."

Serena grabbed her old friend into a hug, "It'll be okay. I promise."

Mina had called them, sobbing, from the veterinary's office less than twenty minutes ago. All that Serena had been able to make out was that Artemis had been hurt in a fight with a monster.

Rei walked over to Mina and pulled out a bottle of aspirin and handed it to her, "I remember what I felt like after opening my pen. You may want these."

Mina smiled wanly at her raven-haired friend and immediately popped the lid off the bottle and swallowed a couple of the pills inside. As the pain in her head began to recede, Mina filled the group in on what had happened. Supposedly she had also called an ambulance for the girl that had been attacked but had only stuck around long enough to see that the paramedics found her before taking Artemis to the vet.

"And I almost didn't wait that long." Mina muttered.

After almost an hour of waiting, one of the veterinary assistants came out and smiled down at the group.

"Your cat came through surgery wonderfully. We'd like to keep him overnight but he should be alright."

"Thank god." Mina whispered as Serena hugged her again.

"Hey, where's Luna go?" Darien asked as Mina got up to deal with the paperwork.

* * * * *

Luna dodged the people in the back room as she searched for Artemis. She knew that they had said he was going to be okay but she had to see him and make sure.

Eventually she made it to the kennel area and saw Artemis inside one of the cages. His fur had been shaved in several places and ugly stitches could be seen through the light gauze he had been wrapped up in. Nudging the latch, she managed to get the door to swing open, a feat easier to accomplish from outside the cage than inside it. Inside, she sniffed the white cat carefully, still smelling the remnants drug they had used to knock him out during surgery.

"Artemis, you fool. What were you thinking, attacking a monster like that?" Luna spit out angrily at his sleeping form. "What am I supposed to do if you go and get yourself killed, hmm? Who's going to make stupid jokes and stop me from killing Serena if you don't get better?"

She paused a moment, fighting down a sob that threatened to break free, "So...so, you have to get better, okay? Because I love you, you stupid fur ball and if you die, I'll kill you."

"A little extreme, don't you think, kitty cat?" Came the soft reply.

"Artemis! I thought you were still knocked out."

"Maybe I am. After all, I think I just heard you say you love me." Artemis said with a weak half smile.

"I said no such thing. You must be on too much pain medication." Luna said indignantly.

"Too bad. 'Cause I love ya too." He replied, opening a single eye to look up at her.

"What did you say?" Luna asked, stunned.

"Nothing, I'm still knocked out, remember?" Artemis said.

"Nothing, really?" Luna said, indignation in her voice as she pounced on the infuriating white cat in front of her.

"Hey! What the stitches!" Artemis yelped.

"Now," Luna said, brandishing her claws in front of Artemis' face, "What was it you just said?"

"I love you."

"Good. Because I love you too. Now get better fast so I can kill you." Luna said, walking out of the cage.

A soft chuckled followed her as she left to go find Serena again.

* * * * *

That night they all spent at Mina's house talking about the past and what had happened to each of them over the last few years. As Mina's new memories had a chance to settle in her head the conversation turned to scout business and their new enemies.

"So these new enemies are attacking people in places other that Tokyo now?" Rei asked.

"It seems like it. It only makes sense after all. Why risk a battle when you can just relocate?" Mina said.

"I miss Ami. She would have been able to tell us where else they might be attacking people." Serena sighed.

"Well, Artemis noticed the news reports and that's what made him suspicious. There's no reason why we can't keep an eye on the news and where similar reports are coming from." Darien said.

The group fell quiet for a moment at the mention for Artemis.

"Well," Mina said finally, breaking the silence, "I think that I should stay in London instead of returning to Tokyo with you guys. If they're attacking here, at least one of us should stay to keep an eye on things."

Serena looked at her friend, "I'm not sure I like the idea of you staying here to fight by yourself."

"Isn't that what you did?" Mina said with a small smile, "Besides you guys will only be a call and a teleport away if I need you."

"Alright, Mina. I understand. Your life is all here in London, too. We would never ask you to drop everything for us." Serena said.

"Thank you." Mina said, "But now that I remember how to teleport, don't you think for a moment that I'm going to miss out on the shopping in Tokyo on the weekends."

* * * * *

The next day, Artemis was released from the veterinary's care. When Mina told him that she was still going to live in London for the time being he looked over at Luna as he announced that he was staying with her.

* * * * *

The rest of the day, Artemis kept trying to get a chance to talk to Luna alone but there was always someone else around. Finally he just sighed and waited for everyone to go to bed and give him a chance.

* * * * *

Later that night, Luna and Artemis were sitting on the roof of Mina's house.

"Luna, I'm sorry. But Venus is my charge. I neglected my duty once. I can't do it again. I can't leave her here to face the enemy all alone."

Luna turned and licked his cheek, "I understand, love. And if you were to do any differently, you wouldn't be the cat I have known for several lifetimes."

"Then you aren't mad?" Artemis asked.

"Mad? No. Besides, it's not like the scouts aren't going to be seeing each other almost every week at their meetings. This will just give you lots of time to miss me and realize how lucky you are." Luna said with a sly look.

"Oh, I know just how lucky I am. But you can remind me any time you want to." Artemis said, rubbing his cheek against Luna's.

* * * * *