Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Eternal Serenity Series ❯ The Voyage Begins ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimers: The characters within all belong to Naoko Takeuchi, DIC, Toei Animation and whoever else has rights to them. I own nothing but the story idea found within.

Rated: PG-13

It was hard to believe that two years had passed since that day. Two years of tears, heartache, and loneliness without her. So much had happened since then... with the new enemy and the scouts being down by two... well, things weren't looking the best. First Sailor Moon had been killed and then Sailor Mars... killed in an attack on the shrine a year ago. The sailor scouts were down by two scouts, three if you included Sailor Pluto who still hadn't returned -- that left five scouts remaining to fight the new evil, impossible odds that were made even worse since Sailor Mercury disappeared six months ago. Oh.. that dropped the number of scouts down to four -- only Venus, Jupiter, Uranus... and Neptune... remained... and himself.

Sighing, Tuxedo Mask wearily rubbed his face as he detransformed, leaning against his balcony as he eyed the glittering city below, scoured by raging fires in places while gunshots rang through the night. Shaking his head, he slowly turned away and walked towards his closed bedroom door, favoring his uninjured left leg as he went. Turning the knob he stepped inside the room that had been converted into a lab, the bedroom furniture having long ago been moved out to make way for the equipment.

"You're back," Amy murmured quietly, a small smile on her lips as she glanced up from the object that she had been working on.

Nodding his head, Darien bit his lip as he eyed the young woman. She looked horrible. Rail thin from her lack of eating, the large bags under her weary blue eyes had become a permanent part of her body. "You haven't eaten again, haven't you?" he asked quietly, watching as she gently fingered his star locket, the object of her obsession for the last six months.

"It's not important," she murmured as her small fingers worked within the components of the locket.

"But..."

"How did the battle go?" she interrupted, not wanting to hear yet another lecture from her friend.

"... Sailor Neptune was killed," he murmured quietly, closing his eyes as he remembered Uranus's overwhelming grief and her screams of emotional pain... a pain that he remembered all too well.

A heavy sigh was Darien's only reply as Amy continued to work. "The others... they think that you're dead... maybe it's time to go..."

"My mom died in an attack on the hospital yesterday," Amy interrupted quickly, her voice showing no emotion even as tears flooded her bright eyes.

"I... I'm sorry," Darien murmured, reaching for her before slowly pulling away. "I didn't know..."

"Darien, I disappeared from everyone and came to you six months ago," she murmured, instantly capturing his full attention. "I left behind everyone and everything that I loved, telling no one that I was going and came to you with no explanation -- hiding here as I worked."

Nodding slowly, Darien met Amy's blue eyes and asked the questions that he had been wondering for so long but had been too hesitant to ask. "Amy, why did you come? Why did you make me promise not to tell everyone where you were and that you're alright? What have you been doing?"

"Six months ago I was visited by Sailor Pluto..." Amy murmured as her eyes misted over. "She explained to me what must be done -- what I must do for you..."

"For me?" Darien asked in confusion.

"Yes... Darien, you must find Serena again and fulfill your destiny," Amy murmured as Darien looked at her in shocked amazement. "You must leave our dimension and find her again."

"What?" he asked as he quickly stumbled back, shaking his head quickly. "But I can't leave you guys alone to fight this!"

Sighing, Amy slowly shook her head. "Do you think that I ever would have left my friends to fight alone all those months ago if there was hope for our world?... I think that Sailor Pluto is going to awaken Sailor Saturn... the senshi of destruction and the only one capable of keeping the evil from spreading," she whispered as the tears flooded her eyes once again.

"But.. but Hotaru is just a little kid! She's only three or four years old!" he cried out in horror, knowing that the resurrection of Saturn could mean only one thing.

"Darien, it's time for you to go," Amy murmured softly as she slowly stood and moved before her friend. Gently she pressed the star locket into his hands. "I've programmed the locket to take you as close to Serena as possible in each new dimension, but because you cannot exist in that world with the other you, it will be more like you're looking in. You will be able to touch nothing, be invisible to everyone else, and you will be able to move by thought. When and if the other you is no longer in that dimension then you will become real and a part of that world. The locket will basically bring you to each dimension a little before the change happens that makes that dimension take a different path than our own... when you're ready to leave all you have to do is want to go and you'll be moved to the next dimension," Amy explained, praying that Darien had gotten over his shock and was paying close attention... she didn't have the heart to go over it again.

"But you'll die," Darien murmured weakly as he clenched the locket in his hand.

"Only this body... my spirit will live on," Amy whispered as a single tear dripped down. "There's no hope for this world without Serena... find her again, but remember that you may have to search for a long time before you find where you belong."

"But..." he trailed off as the star locket clicked open, mesmerizing him with the hauntingly familiar tune. "Darien, my love... never forget your promise to me... never stop looking for me.... when our locket, the symbol of our love, stops playing... only then will all hope be lost... find me again in life and not in death..."

Smiling softly, Amy gently reached forward and clicked the locket closed as warm memories of her best friend flooded her mind. "Darien, there is nothing left for you here," she murmured softly. "Find her again and be happy."

Sighing, Darien slowly nodded his head as he quickly pulled the young woman forward and hugged her tightly. "Thank you for everything, Amy," he whispered against her ear.

"Just make her happy," was Amy's whispered response as Darien disappeared in a flash of light. Blinking back her tears, the Sailor of Mercury then moved until she was standing beside her work table. "My soul will be waiting there for you," she whispered, the tears trailing down her pale cheeks as she picked up the revolver with shaky hands that she had hidden. "I love you all," she sobbed as a single gunshot echoed in the dark night, lost amongst the violence of her world.