Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Trusting Heart ❯ Moonlight Memory ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

Moonlight Memories

 

Ami, Lita, Mina, Rei, and the two cats regrouped after a couple hours of shopping separately or in pairs. Now they scouted the food court for any sign of Serina. They found none. They'd each spotted her several times cheerfully hopping from store to store with a bemused Garrett following or leading, hand in hand, but for now she had disappeared again.

 

"All right! What'd we get her?" Mina dropped her bags between her legs as she collapsed into a chair. The others followed suit, releasing their holds on bags and boxes, and falling into comfortable chairs around a synthetic black marble table. They sighed in relief and Lita responded first.

 

"For Rini I got a children's cookbook, I hope she has access to a kitchen where she's from, being a princess and all, I wasn't sure."

 

"I'm sure if she wanted it badly enough, she'd get her way! But even if she can't, you'll help her while she's here, right?" Mina smiled. How typical from Lita, the master chef. "What'd you get Serina?" Three other pairs of ears perked up, worried that they might have gotten the same thing. Lita blushed under their collective stare, she knew she sounded predictable and it was kind of embarrassing.

 

"Actually, I got her the same thing. I think it's about time she learn to cook more than a bowl of cereal and reheat left-overs." The girls burst out laughing, Rei clutching her sides and Ami self-consciously covering her smiling mouth. Mina was near tears as they all recalled Serina's sad attempts at cooking. She really couldn't do much better than buttered toast and even then she managed to burn it!

 

"Well it'd be perfect for her if you could actually get her to use it!" Luna exclaimed between giggles from Ami's shoulder.

 

"Yeah, nice and simple instructions for kids and Meatball heads!"

 

"Well, you've got to admit her curry that one time for Rini's party wasn't that bad- once you got over the way it LOOKED, of course!"

 

"And all that time we spent trying to help her? She's as bad at cooking as she is at fighting!"

 

"You shouldn't be talking, Mina, you're just as bad as Serina!" Rei reminded.

 

"Hey! I- I'm not THAT bad!" Mina cried in her own defense, but the look from Artemis on her shoulder had everyone rolling again.

 

"All right, all right. Nurse Mina." Lita coughed. At Mina's peeved glare she quickly turned to the fire goddess. "Rei, what'd you get them?" Lita questioned when she and everyone else had calmed down enough to ask. Rei pulled out a little bag that had a pair of gold earrings in it. They were tiny pink diamonds shaped into rabbits.

 

"This is for Rini. I'm going to put a protection charm on them for her. Hopefully, it'll keep her from getting into too much more trouble from now on."

 

"That's nice, Rei, and they're pretty too." Mina admired the earrings, she hadn't even noticed if Rini's ears were pierced. "What about Serina?"

 

"Serina was a little harder." Rei confessed as she searched through a second bag and pulled out a small velvet box. She set it on the table and the girls all leaned forward, unknowingly falling silent as Rei lifted the lid. Within lay a white disc of iridescent mother-of-pearl, much like a full moon with one edge curving into a gold crescent moon and a tiny diamond stud in the middle where they met. The breath-taking pendant hung on a thin gold chain.

 

The girls lost their voices. Finally, Mina spoke up, reaching for it though she was afraid to touch it. "Wow! That's beautiful, Rei!"

 

"Yeah, gorgeous!" The others quickly agreed.

 

"Only the best for my best friend." Rei smiled contentedly, she was glad she impressed them. Serina meant a lot to her and it was nice to see that they knew that, no matter how much they fought.

 

"It kind of makes up for all the fighting you guys do all year round, huh?" Lita thoughtfully said, looking at Rei. Rei gaped at her- how did she come so close?! Since when could Lita read her mind? "Ha! I was right, wasn't I?"

 

"I don't know how, but yeah, I guess you're right. The only day of the year I'll ever come close to apologizing to that meatball head." She admitted quietly, still in disbelief that Lita had predicted her so accurately. That was her job.

 

"Cool. I assume you put a protection thingy on that too?" Lita grinned as she inspected the pearl and gold moons. She'd never seen anything so creative and perfect for their very own moon princess. Even the diamond stud reminded her of the Imperium Silver Crystal.

 

"Um, yeah, when I get home I'll put one on, I can't put really good charms on either gift without my stuff back at the temple. Anyway, your turn, Ami. We know you got Rini that necklace but what about Serina?"

 

"Probably a studying book or something." Mina rolled her eyes. Luna's eye brows arched in interest.

 

"Anything to get that child to study!" She exclaimed in exasperation. The girls giggled but Ami blushed.

 

"Um, actually-"

 

"No, Ames, you didn't- did you?"

 

"Well, kind of . . ." Now all the girls rolled their eyes and Luna grinned happily. "I got her a cheat book, it should help her find quick techniques to solve problems and has answers and guides for almost every subject she could possibly want to take. But that's not the only thing I got her, I knew no matter how much she needed it, she probably wouldn't appreciate the book much, so I also had this made for her." Ami pulled out a gray package and opened it to reveal a dark cherry wood box with inlaid silver and pearl forming the shape of a moon in the center and roses in each corner. She lifted the lid and a soft fluty melody drifted up to their ears; loving serenity and a peaceful longing washed over the listeners. They unconsciously closed their eyes and held their breath as if exhaling would have disturbed the delicate song.

 

Ami closed the lid after it completed a verse. Her ocean blue eyes had filled with tears as they listened, it was only after the song ended that they realized what was wrong.

 

"That was Serina and Darien's song." Mina whispered. Her eyes brimmed with regretful tears as she remembered how often Serina would listen to it, what it had meant to the two star-crossed lovers. Serina had loved that song, her star locket played that tune only for her and Darien, the moon princess and her beloved prince. The only thing that had gotten her through the times when Darien had been captured and brainwashed by Beryl was that locket and their song. Even nowadays with Darien lost to her again, the girls sometimes walked in on her listening mournfully to it.

 

Only Luna knew how often Serina fell asleep with it playing next her ear, crying and sometimes attempting to hum to it. She'd come up with words for the melody, different each time depending on how she was feeling. Recently the song's meaning was better interpreted by the tone of voice she sang in, without words, rather than reading into a lengthy explanation of verse and lyrics. The few sorrowful words described how she felt, her abandonment, loss, hopelessness, and grief as if she were slowly dying inside. It hurt Luna terribly to hear her sing, the princess had such a wonderful voice but now it could only portray the remorse and anguish of a fallen angel.

 

Ami quietly tried to explain the gift, now sorry she'd even decided to still pay for it. She hadn't thought it would cause this much pain for just them- if Serina heard it in her state the melody would surely kill her. "I had this made nearly a month ago, when Serina and Darien were still going out. I guess I planned a little too far ahead and put too much faith in tomorrow. I shouldn't give it to her." She slipped the music box back into it's protective box and hid the bag it was in.

 

"No, Ami, it's beautiful- and thoughtful; it'd be a waste to NOT give it to her. Perhaps there's a way you could just keep it from playing and she could just use it as a nice jewelry box." Luna suggested from Ami's shoulder, purring in reassurance. Surely that could be done, and if it could, Ami could find the way.

 

Ami's face brightened. "Of course, that'd be perfect. Thanks, Luna, I'll do that when I get home."

 

"Mina, your turn." Lita reminded as she tried to get some electricity back into the depressed group. Mina nodded, a little more emphatically than she had to. Artemis softly purred in her lap.

 

"Yeah, I really did get Rini a little stuffed bunny; it's at home. It was kind of a mother and baby pair. One for Rini and the other for Serina. I figured it was cute and since they'd fight over who got what, this way they got the same thing and couldn't argue. Perfect, huh?" The others agreed, still subdued by the ghost melody of Ami's gift. They gathered their items again and stood to leave.

 

"Well, I guess we should find Serina-" A loud crashing and screams interrupted Rei and their attention was ripped away to focus on the disturbance downstairs. A Dark Moon droid had appeared in the middle of mall, just below the food courts and near the bottom of the escalator. The girls ran to rail and looked over, assessing the rapidly worsening situation.

 

"Girls, transform, quickly!" Luna called, hopping off Ami's shoulder, Artemis following her to the ground. "We'll find Serina!"

 

"Right, Luna!" The four girls scampered off to a newly deserted store, it's customers and managers having fled in fear of the monster terrorizing the floor below.

 

"Mercury Star Power!"

 

"Venus Star Power!"

 

"Mars Star Power!"

 

"Jupiter Star Power!" Each girl transformed into her respective sailor outfit, engulfed in water, golden light, fire, and electricity.

 

"Let's go show that nega-creep we're NOT in a good mood!" Sailor Mars shouted as she ran from the store, leaping the rail and landing perfectly on the tiled ground below. The other three Scouts followed her lead, landing beside her and confronting the creature that had taken on the form of a salesperson wearing a frilly apron and candy-striped clothes. Her hands held large perfume bottles and a measuring tape.

 

"So the Sailor Failures have shown up! I'm sorry you'll be too tied up to stop me from capturing this crystal point!" The droid laughed maniacally and launched her rolls of measuring tape at them. Mars and Jupiter managed to dodge the yellow and white strip but Venus and Mercury were caught and instantly wrapped up beyond recognition. They struggled but the droid raised them higher off the ground and refused to let them go.

 

"Mars Celestial Fire Surround!" Mars released her discs of fire, two cutting through the tape holding the captive Scouts, two more carefully slicing through it to free them, and the last joining Jupiter's lightning attack on the sales-creature. The thing screamed and stepped back but wouldn't be destroyed.

 

"Where's Sailor Moon when you need her?" Mars grumbled. No one had an answer.

__________________________

"I'm on your side and I always will be. Remember that."

 

"Oh no! What's that?" Serina cried when she heard a loud explosion outside the store she was in. She peered outside, just catching a glimpse of a terribly dressed Dark Moon droid attacking shoppers before Garry pulled her back inside.

 

"Be careful, Serina! Come on, back here. You've got to hide." Garry took her hand and pulled her to the back of the store.

 

"But- we've got to help, Garry! I can go call the police, we can't let that thing attack innocent people! My friends are out there!" Serina protested. She had to get away and transform! She struggled as Garry forced her into a fitting room, making her lock the door.

 

"Don't worry, Serina, I'll- go for help, you must promise me you'll stay here where it's safe. I'll be back for you." He promised and quickly ran out of the store.

 

"Thank goodness he left! Moon Crystal Power!" Serina called as she thrust her hand to the sky, feathers and red ribbons encircled her and she was instantly transformed into Sailor Moon. She unlocked the door and sneaked from the store to confront the creature.

 

"Sailor Moon! The girls are all ready out there!" Luna and Artemis raced to her side, having spotted the distinctive meatballed heroine inside the store.

 

"Yes, Luna, I noticed! See if you can find Garry and make sure he's okay!" Sailor Moon raced to the store entrance, scepter in hand, appearing behind the creature. She watched as Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter combined their attacks but it barely had an affect on the creature!

 

Moon searched out Venus and Mercury and found them recovering on the floor. She caught their eyes, silently signaling and questioning them, and they nodded in both understanding and reassurance. They slowly stood, gesturing to the other two Scouts, and they all prepared a second attack; each of the five taking up a position surrounding the droid.

 

Suspecting something was amiss, the creature abruptly swung around to face Sailor Moon! She yelped as the creature attempted to catch her in the same measuring tape she had caught the blue and orange Scouts in. Moon dodged, barely missing getting tied up but the end of the tape managed to trip her and she fell flat on her stomach. The droid used her momentary pause to spray her with whatever was in the perfume bottle. Sailor Moon quickly pushed herself to her knees to get out of the way. She tried not to inhale but she couldn't help involuntarily gasping after having the wind knocked out of her.

 

The scent was sickeningly sweet; Sailor Moon just wanted to wretch as it clung to her throat and burned her nose. The smell went straight to her head, making her dizzy and she toppled over, unable to move without the world tipping.

 

"Sailor Moon!" The Scouts called from their positions. Mercury quickly smothered the area in her bubbles, hoping it would reverse or at least discontinue the affect of the creature's perfume on Sailor Moon. The girls were still ready for their combined attack. The creature hadn't left the circle so the girls used this chance to continue with their plan. Calling on their powers, at the same time they assaulted the Dark Moon droid. The thing screamed again, nearly defeated. Sailor Moon sat up, choking and coughing, her scepter held at the ready though her hands trembled with the effort to just move and see straight. She was grateful for Mercury's help but she still couldn't breathe, or even see anything more than blurred, slow-moving shadows and she felt so heavy . . .

 

"Moon Scepter Elimination!" She shouted and the droid disintegrated into dust. Sailor Moon fell back again, sighing in relief. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied something appear out of nowhere and launch red crystal spears right at her! She shrieked again and threw herself to the side, trying to hop to her feet. Before she could take a step, an arm caught around her waist and Tuxedo Mask pulled her to safety.

 

"Who's THAT?!" Moon cried, still coughing, as she stared at the man that stood next to where she'd been sitting a moment ago, his deadly crystal spears impaled in the tile. His red glittering eyes burned through her mind like fire. He looked familiar . . .

 

"As punctual as ever, Sailor Scouts." The man chuckled as if he knew a secret. He turned in Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's direction, locking eyes with the young blonde superheroine, and- bowed.

 

Just then Rubeus of the Dark Moon appeared next to the newcomer. No wonder he looked familiar! The two men looked nearly exactly alike!

 

"Garnyt, what are YOU doing here?" Rubeus confronted the second red head in an outraged tone.

 

"The lord Prince Diamond has sent me here to the past to complete a mission you haven't had any success in as yet, Brother. I'm here to capture Sailor Moon. The prince wants her dead or alive. He has more confidence in me than he does in you apparently." He grinned smugly. Rubeus's brother, Garnyt, looked a lot like him, his red hair was a couple shades darker, longer, and his eyes were a sparkling dark red. Rather than Rubeus's 'stylish' vest and loose pants, Garnyt preferred something more akin to an officer's dress uniform, an immaculate red tunic decorated with gold stars and swirls that seemed to be popular among the Dark Moon. Garnyt's distant, calculating expression reminded Serina of Queen Beryl's cold minion, Malachite.

 

"We'll see. Don't come to me when you fail, BROTHER. You might as well die in the past than return a loser to your precious prince."

 

"Have faith, Rubeus." Garnyt smiled a chillingly evil grin and they both teleported away at the same time, Rubeus's face showing distinct disgust for his brother.

 

"Great! Now we've got TWO to deal with!" Mars shouted, frustrated. Sailor Moon was still held protectively in Tuxedo Mask's arms, her trembling grip on his velvet black tux hadn't loosened since the second Dark Moon officer had shown up.

 

The girls regrouped and detransformed before the mall shoppers could recover and see them then returned to their forgotten table. Moon shifted back to civilian form, not letting go of Tuxedo Mask as she would have before. Her frightened eyes looked up into his masked ones, searching for reassurance.

 

"Did you hear him? He's after me. Me specifically. Dead or alive . . ." Serina whispered, giving in to terrified sobs as Tux held her. He downshifted to Darien as she cried into his chest.

 

"Don't worry, they haven't gotten any of us yet, you'll be fine." He whispered, trying to comfort her. She didn't seem to be consoled, as if only one thing could ease her fears and he didn't know what it was. What could he do? All he wanted was to hold her forever, make sure she never feared for anything, kiss her tears away, protect her from everything in the world . . . But if he even hinted somehow that he loved her that much, if he ever showed any kind of affection- she would die!

 

"Will you be there? Will you protect me?" She asked, glancing worried up into Darien's calming blue eyes. He should have expected that question. How could she ever doubt that one constant left in his life? He would die for her, be by her side every time she fought for the world, whisk her away from any danger- even if he couldn't love her.

 

"Of course, I will. Don't I always?" Serina tried to smile and she released her ex-boyfriend. She didn't want to; she'd stay in his arms forever if he'd let her. But her love's eyes had gone blank of all emotion once his own smile had tugged at the corners of his mouth in response to hers. Why was it he couldn't let himself feel happiness anymore?

 

Serina turned away, hiding her pain behind her gold pigtails as she headed back to the store she was supposed to be hiding in. She broke into a run as she began to worry about what had happened to Garry. She reached the back of the store and called for him. She didn't see him anywhere, she returned outside after gathering her few bags, still calling his name. The girls had all ready returned to the upper floor, and Darien had long since disappeared. But Garry was no where to be seen.

 

"Garry! Where are you?"

 

"Serina? Are you okay?" Garry appeared from around the corner, fearlessly making his way through the surge of people to her side as frightened, milling customers and shoppers began to wake up and rise around him. Pandemonium reigned a few minutes as people panicked in the aftermath of the attack. Police and paramedics arrived, late as always.

 

"Garry, I'm glad you're all right!" Serina hopped up to him, grasping his hands to make sure her friend was okay.

 

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was concerned when those Sailor Scouts lured that creature's aim towards the store you were in. I thought they were doing it on purpose for some reason!"

 

"Oh no! It was an accident, trust me! I know the Scouts and they would never let an innocent get hurt." Serina linked her arm with his and led him to the escalator.

 

"Even by accident?" He asked quietly so she almost didn't hear him. She was going reassure him again when Rei's face appeared over the upper level railing.

 

"Hey, you two, are you coming or not? We're ready to leave!" Rei disappeared, replaced by rushing medics and flustered shoppers.

 

"We're coming!" Serina seemed to have forgotten about the whole birthday episode from earlier and she now recovered her bubbly spirit as she rode the escalator up with Garry by her side, gazing protectively over her. He'd noticed the dark glint of fear in her eyes.

__________________________

 

Darien stared after the golden haired angel that ran away in search of that- that guy. He turned away in anger, disappearing easily and thoughtlessly into the rising crowd. He couldn't stand to see his princess, his soul mate, his love in the arms of another. It killed him that she could possibly ever love another, let alone this Garry, so soon!

 

The emotions raging within the prince tore at his heart, more fragile than he'd let others believe. The defenses came up without his bidding, the cold stone walls rebuilt themselves from the demolished wreck Serina's love had left them in. The cool distance seeped into his soul, his eyes turned a frozen, choppy sea blue, his expression blank and heartless. He couldn't deal with what Serina was putting him through!

 

Jealous fury ripped his spirit apart, boiling his blood with the need to steal her back from this man who dared touch his princess, dared to bespell her heart with illusions! He'd kill him if he hurt her, rip him apart for touching her in any way! There was no way this guy could love her like he did, the way she deserved to be treasured and worshipped, held above everything and anything else. There was no way this impostor could ever understand that! He wanted nothing more than to break that man, beat him senseless for trying to take Serina way from him! No one should have Serina but him! Darien was blind to all else but that: the seething, passionate vehemence that he wanted to take out on that- that dishonorable thief and son of a- Garrett was evil, Darien could sense it, if only because he was now in danger of losing his Serina to him forever.

 

Darien raised a weak hand to his head which was burning with angry loss. He was losing her. 'What are you talking about? She's not yours anymore. She can never be.' Desolation hit him again, a tsunami of numbing pain that nearly knocked down the hastily constructed barrier around his heart. It crashed over his senses, erasing every other thought except that she was gone, and with someone else. Some man not worthy of her, who would only hurt like he had-

 

Like he had.

 

He hurt her. He had hurt her terribly. He knew how she cried, how she hoped this was some kind of nightmare. After every chance meeting, every battle she begged him to come back, begged explanations he couldn't give. And she prayed he would still care enough to protect her. She asked him today to protect her, her teary crystal blue eyes pleading. She was afraid she would lose her eternal guardian.

 

She still needed him, she still wanted him. To defend her, to guard her against evil. And he would, till his last breath he would. He would do anything she asked of him, anything he could if it would make her happy. Even if it killed him.

 

Even if it meant giving her up.