Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Holding Lost Destiny ❯ Setting the Mood ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

*Note*

Sailor moon is not mine, nuts eh. Oh well, lol.

The noise of birds chirping woke Shay up. He rolled over in bed,
groaning. "Damn it, can't a guy get some sleep," he groaned, throwing
the pillow over his head.

He lay there another few minutes before getting up. He blinked his
eyes to the sunlight that was pouring into his room.

He headed to the kitchen to get a bite to eat. He rubbed his eyes as
he walked, yawning.

Shay reached the kitchen, and made himself some toast. He could still
hear the birds chirping outside. Shay loved his apartment, but there
were times he cursed that he was in a building so near to the birds.

He glanced at the clock, seeing that he had half an hour before he
needed to go work.

Shay went and got dressed. He picked out some khakis and a blue dress
shirt. He was going to take the kids on a field trip to the temple,
where he was to show them the beauty of the hillside, and the culture
they could experience from the temple. It also was the last field trip
before their last day of school, at the end of the week. Then he'd
have a few months for summer vacation.

When he arrived at the school, the kids were anxiously waiting to go
on their field trip. It hadn't taken too long for the children to
absolutely adore Shay. To them, he seemed almost like a big kid.

They left the school, and headed for the temple, with Shay leading the
way. He started them singing some songs, causing people to look at
them curiously.

When they arrived at the temple, the cherry trees that lined the hill
awed the children. Shay himself loved the beauty of the hill. When
they got to the temple, an old man greeted them. He was short, and his
eyes were squinted, but he had a wide smile on his face.

"Why hello children, come to see me," he chuckled.

The children took to his friendliness. He led them to the gong, and
got each of them to ring it. That seemed to fascinate them. He showed
them around the grounds, and introduced them to a young man named
Chad, that worked at the temple.

Shay found him amusing, sure that his rocker look was the only thing
he had to tie him to his dreams. After that, Shay let the kids go for
lunch. A few boys finished in no time, and went to chasing each other
wildly. One tripped, and crashed into a tree, knocking himself out
cold.

Shay rushed to the fallen boy, trying to revive him. Many of the
students went into a panic, particularly the girls. Chad, who had seen
what happened, had fled inside the temple. Shay tried to revive the
boy, but it proved to be more difficult then he had hoped.

Chad came then, with a girl with long black hair tied back with a red
ribbon. She looked at the boy, "Bring him along," she told Shay, not
even looking at him.

Shay did as she told him, feeling he should do as the girl told him.
He scooped the boy into his arms, and followed the girls in
traditional temple robes.

She led him into the temple, taking him to a room where he could lay
the boy down. Shay watched as the girl wiped the boy's head with a
cool cloth then waved a strange paper over his face.

Then the boy blinked, and looked at the girl, then at Shay. Then he
sat up. "What happened?" he asked.

The girl smiled at him; "you knocked yourself out. But, I think you're
just fine."

"Really?" he asked.

She nodded. "Now, I'm sure you want to go outside, but know now to be
careful," she warned in a sterner voice.

The boy nodded his head, then darted from the room.

Shay turned to the girl, "thank you..."

"Rei," she said, finally turning to look at him. Rei stopped as she
looked at the man. He was handsome, but it was his aura that caught
her attention. It seemed very much alive with power that she had never
seen before. Something moved, like it had a liveliness that seemed
powerful.

Shay looked at Rei. There was something about her. There was
definitely something about her that caused a stir in him. Is it
because she's a pretty girl? He asked himself. However, he shook that
thought from his head. She was just someone close to the temple.

"Are you the boy's father?" Rei asked him, although she was sure that
he seemed too young to have a boy that old.

He shook his head, "no, he's one of my students. I brought them to the
temple to show them something new that they should experience."

Rei smiled. She hadn't quite seen a man like this one. He seemed so
dedicated to his students, but also in life.

"Well, you really should make sure they take it easy. They don't need
to disturb the sanctuary."

"I will do that."

"Thank you..."

"Shay," he introduced himself. "It was nice meeting you, but I really
should get back to my students. They're great but you can't leave them
for long, otherwise they could cause everything to destruct."

Rei smiled. "I'll walk you out."

They returned outside, where the children were scattered about doing
their own thing. Some were exploring the temple grounds with wonder;
others just to release some of their young energy.

"Well, I must cage the young beasts," Shay said to Rei, turning to
her, extending his hand.

Rei took it, and shook it. Her mind flashed with fire. Rei looked at
Shay closely, curious as to what the flash meant.

Shay looked at her, feeling lost in déjà vu. There was something, but
he couldn't place his finger on it. "Well," he smiled. "Nice meeting
you."

"Same," she answered.

Shay turned, and went to gather his students. A few students had
joined him after his parting with Rei, making little kissing noises.
He gave them a stern look, which only caused them to laugh.

Shay got the students together, and told them a story that he had
heard from someone about the temple.

From the temple, Rei watched Shay tell the kids the story. Her mind
was wild with curiosity. She turned and went to her sacred fire. Chad
watched her go; knowing that he mustn't disturb her.

She knelt before the fire, clasping her hands together. She moved them
in the manner that prayed the language to the fire spirit. She had her
eyes closed, and her mind open to the spirit of the fire. The fire
grew large, nearly hitting the ceiling.

An image of darkness surrounded her, and then she saw a beam of light.
It stretched for a great distance, and she could feel that it was
stronger then any normal light. Then the fire shrank back to normal
size, and then blankness in her open mind.

"Damn," she cursed.

Rei opened her eyes and looked at the fire. She slumped forward with a
deep sigh. "It doesn't make any sense," she whispered.

There was something about Shay, yet the vision didn't help her all
that much. She got up, and went to her room. She was no sooner in her
room when she heard her phone ring. She picked it up, "hello?"

"Hey Rei, it's Mina, I was just wondering if I left my notebook there
yesterday?"

Rei glanced to the table on the side of her wall, in her room, seeing
the blue notebook. "Yeah Mina, it's here."

"Hey, is anything the matter?" Mina asked. She heard something in
Rei's voice. Having such a close tie with all the scouts, Mina knew
something was up.

"Well," she started. Rei explained about Shay and the vision that
didn't quite make sense to her.

"I see," Mina answered after listening to Rei. "Well, we'll have to
get the cats to do some investigating. And I'm sure Amy will help with
information."

Rei seemed more at ease. It wasn't that Shay gave off negative vibes,
but there was question to his whole power.

"Well, what about your notebook?" Rei asked.

"Oh," Mina laughed. "I'll come over now to get it. Maybe we could go
for some ice cream."

Rei frowned, "well, you better expect to find meatball head there. If
I didn't know any better, I'd swear that she lived at the arcade's
café."

Mina laughed, "well, that's Serena. You have to love her for all her
quirks."

Rei only shook her head, "well, that's all she has to give. So, I
guess I'll see you soon."

"Yep," Mina said.

"Okay, see you soon."

"Alright bye Rei."

Rei hung up the phone, then went to lie down on her bed. She dozed off
a little when she heard a knock on her door. "Yes?"

"Mina's here," her grandfather said, sliding her door open.

"Thank you Grandpa."

He smiled, and moved along, doing a little dance and song as he went.

Rei shook her head. "That's grandpa."

Mina laughed. "Come on Rei," she said grabbing her book. "Let's go get
some ice cream, it'll help hearten you up," she smiled.

"Just need to change first," she said, going to her dresser. She
looked through the clothes, then moved to her closet. After searching
through all her clothes, she threw on white Capri pants and a red tank
top.

After she was dressed, Rei and Mina headed away from the temple, into
town where they headed towards the ice cream shop.

"Did Amy tell you?" Mina asked.

Rei looked at her. "What?"

"About the forest, about the woods. There's like something weird going
on, there was some kind of fire."

"Fire?" Rei asked, piqued with concern. "Was it something from the
Imperium?"

Mina shrugged, "Too hard to tell."

"Well, maybe we should call a meeting. It seems like we have a bit to
discuss."

Mina nodded. "Definitely."

They came to the arcade, and entered, heading to the café. It had a
few people. Rei headed towards the booth near the window, with Mina
following her. They plopped into their seats.

A sweet girl with brown hair, with freckles came over to their table.
"What can I get you?"

"A ice cream sundae," Rei said.

Mina cringed her nose, trying to decide what to get. "I'll get a
banana split."

"Okay," the girl said, then turned and left Mina and Rei to
themselves. Rei looked around. There wasn't really anybody in there,
not even Serena.

Mina put her elbows on the table and propped her chin on her hands.
She let out a small yawn, then looked at Rei. "So, how are things with
you? Things going good at the temple, Chad doing well?"

Rei blushed like usual at the mention of Chad. I don't know what's up
with Chad. He seems to be doing well enough that he's always there,"
she smiled faintly. "But then Grandpa, well he's just grandpa. Then, I
don't know. I guess it's pretty normal."

Mina smiled. "Well, take it as a compliment that life is going easy.
It's hard to say when we'll have to be on full throttle on the
Imperium attacks."

Rei was about to say something when the girl returned with their ice
cream. When the waitress left, Rei looked at Mina, "I guess life is
always the way you take it."

* * *

Leta rolled her neck; Serena was gabbing on about Darien. She loved
Serena, but there were times that she was a real pill. "Serena," she
said interrupting her talkathon. "Did you hear that we're going to
have a scout meeting tonight?"

Serena looked at Leta. "Yeah, Amy told me about it this morning in
class. Why?"

"Just wanted to make sure that you had your mind awake to everything
else."

Serena gaped at her. "Leta!"

She laughed, "At least I got a word in edgewise."

Serena shut her mouth. They kept walking. They were heading towards
the arcade where they hoped that they would run into a certain person.
Leta had Andrew in mind, and Serena had Darien, of course.

They came to a crosswalk. The corner was crowded with people waiting
for the light to change so they may cross. Serena and Leta waited.
When they finally crossed, they passed Shay.

When Shay walked past the two girls, he doubled back his attention.
His mind seemed to have another déjà vu, but now with these two girls.
One had brown hair, pulled back in a ponytail. She was very tall. The
other one was a bit shorter, and had blond hair, put up in pigtails.

He looked back, bumping into the person walking in front of him.
"Sorry," he apologized to the woman.

She smiled at him. "It's okay."

Shay continued on his way, wondering about his past few days, and the
encounters that he had had. It seemed a little strange to him.

Serena spotted Darien and Andrew up ahead talking in front of the
arcade. She took a hold of Leta's hand, and ran towards them. "Darien!
Andrew! Hi!"

They both turned to face her. They waved and smiled. Leta and Serena
approached them, with smiles of their own.

"Hey meatball head," Darien said with a cool smile.

Serena smiled back. She would never be able to forget that smile of
his. It was etched forever in her memory, and heart where it would
stay as one of the precious things.

Darien hugged her, and kissed her on the forehead. Serena beamed.

"So what's up meatball head?"

"Not too much," she answered.

Leta turned to Andrew, who seemed to carry the same solemn expression
that he had for about two weeks. "What's up with you? You don't look
to great."

Andrew half smiled. "Well, Rita sent me an email telling me about how
she's doing."

Leta frowned, as she always did, thinking that Andrew had something to
keep her from him. "Well, how's she doing?" she asked in a composed
voice.

"She seems to be doing well. However, she told me that something's
come up, and that we need to talk. So I called her, and she tells me
all about Blake."

"Who's Blake?" Serena asked.

"Well, as of now, he's Rita's new boyfriend."

A triumphant shout roared in Leta's heart. She put a sympathetic hand
on his shoulder giving it a light squeeze. "That really is too bad,"
she said, "but it will get better for you," she said sweetly.

Andrew smiled at her. "I know, but it's going to take some time to get
over it."

Serena jumped as she felt her watch vibrate, and heard the incoming
beeps. She stepped away from Darien, Andrew and Leta. She flipped the
top, seeing Amy's face on the mini screen.

"What's up?" Serena whispered.

"Something's come up, we need to meet as soon as we can."

"Sure, "Leta's here with me, I'll bring her. We're on our way."

"Okay."

Then Amy was gone. Serena stepped back with the others. "Well, I think
me and Leta should be on our ways. We promised we'd meet up with Rei
and everyone up at the temple, and you know how Rei is."

Darien and Leta cast her a look. Leta looked from Andrew to her, then
sighed in resignation. "Yeah, we'd better go." She smiled at Andrew
then at Darien, "see you guys soon."

Serena and her started walking, looking back to wave good bye.

"What's up?" Leta asked.

"Amy wants us to have the meeting now."

"Oh," she said.

It wasn't too long before they were at the temple, by the pond. Amy
was sitting on a rock, reading through data on her palm computer. Rei
was feeding the fish, while Mina basked in the sun with Luna and
Artemis by her side.

"Great everyone's here," Amy said, looking up.

"What's going on?" Serena asked.

Rei explained to them about Shay, and the vision that she had had.
"Well, that could mean a lot of things."

"Yes, but I can't seem to find much about him."

Luna looked up at Amy, then to Artemis. "Well, that opening that
caused the explosion is a portal for the Imperium of sorts."

Everyone looked at Luna.

"Well, it just seems that we're going to prepare a fight against the
Imperium. Strange vibes have been coming from the forest where the
portal opening was."

"Plus, there has been a strange energy pull. Those woods seem almost
like there's nothing there. No sounds or anything," Amy said.

Mina looked at everyone, "so what does that mean?" she asked. "Is the
Imperium wanting to fight with us?"

Amy typed up on her computer, "Well, it says here that the force of
the portal is moved, and it's..."

"Where?" Leta asked, cracking her knuckles.

"It's coming from a tree, and the power is trying to expand. It's not
causing any disruptions to Earthlings, only expanding."

"Which can only mean that they want to prepare themselves for
something big," Rei said absentmindedly. "Yet, I'm still curious as to
this Shay guy. His aura, is something like I've never seen, it's
powerful."

"Well, I don't know," Amy said thoughtfully. "But, I guess we're all
going to have to keep our eyes open."

They all nodded in agreement.

* * *

Shay sat on the park bench, reading through his book. People, who were
just out for a nice walk, passed by him. Shay paid no attention to
them. He just read, feeling the warmth of the sun on his back.

He turned the page, just as a Frisbee came flying towards him. He
didn't look up, but out stretched his hand and caught it mid air. He
was lowering his arm, when a girl came over to him. "Wow, that's
pretty neat," she laughed.

Shay looked up to see a sweet blonde-haired girl. Her hair was long,
and half-tied back with a red ribbon. Her eyes were an amazing
sparkling blue. Her face was sweet, and her lips very kiss worthy.

Still holding the Frisbee, he smiled. "I guess this is your Frisbee."

She smiled, and nodded. "But how did you...?"

He lowered his arm, "oh, just always had reflex."

"Well, that can always be handy," she smiled.

"Here," he said, handing back her Frisbee. "I guess you want it back
to play some more, or to throw at other sitting people in the park,"
he laughed.

"Yeah, sorry about that. When I went to throw it to the other person,
I tripped, and sent it flying in the other direction."

"Well, maybe it was a twist of fate...?" he said, fishing for her
name.

"Mina," she smiled.

"Very pretty."

She blushed, "thank you. And you?"

"Shay."

Her eyes widened for a second and her hands faltered.

Shay caught it. "What, has my reputation reached to the very outskirts
of the world?"

"Oh no, just the other day, my friend Rei told me about meeting you at
the temple. I just found it a weird coincidence, that's all."

Shay looked at her, "Rei?" he asked silently. "Oh yeah, that's right.
Huh, so you two are friends?"

Mina nodded. She looked at him carefully. She did see the same thing
that Rei saw, and that was his lively aura of power. "Been friends for
years."

"Well, friendship is always great to have."

"So, you enjoying the book you're reading?" she asked him, catching
sight of the book in his hand.

He looked at the book, almost forgetting about it. "Yeah, it seemed to
be interesting, but this is more better," he smiled.

Again, she blushed. For some odd reason, Mina felt something. It
wasn't a feeling of awareness or of déjà vu, but of genuine interest.
He looked so kind with his green eyes sparkling with life, and fire.
His face seemed so gentle and manly.

It was clear that he was older then her, but not by much, maybe five
years at the max. But it was something, something that drew her to
him, made her compelled to want to touch him, run her fingers through
his hair.

Shay moved aside on the bench, "would you like to have a seat?" he
asked.

She smiled, "I'd love to stay and chat with you Shay." Truly, she
really did want to. "But, I really should get back to my friend."

"Sure," he said. "Maybe we'll bump into each other again," he smiled.

I really hope so, she thought. "Maybe," she smiled warmly.

"Well, you have a nice day then Mina," he smiled, standing up and
extending his hand to her.

She shook it, feeling a shock. She laughed to cover it up, then smiled
again. "Well bye Shay, you have a nice day too."

With that she turned and left, leaving Shay in wonderment.

Mina headed back to Leta. She held the Frisbee up. "I found it."

"Great," Leta smiled, as she stood up from the rock she was sitting
on. "Did it hit anybody?"

Mina shook her head, "no, Shay caught it midair."

Leta looked at her, "Shay?" she asked. Mina nodded. "What was he
doing?" she asked Mina, who seemed to have a mysterious twinkle in her
eyes.

"Oh, he was just reading. But Rei is right, he does have something
about it, but..."

"What?"

"I'm not too sure that it's necessarily bad. He's very nice," she
smiled.

Leta then understood. Mina had never been one to be a boy crazy girl,
which used to be the case with Serena before she had Darien. Mina was
just a sweet girl that changed her entire life when she joined with
the scouts.

Mina had come from London, and was the actress and model for Sailor V.
But the battle against Queen Beryl called for her to be with the other
scouts. And since then she's remained with them.

"Well, we'll have to see," she said carefully.

Mina looked at Leta carefully, noticing that she had been in a very
good mood since before they started the meeting, and it was hardly
wrecked by the meeting either. "So, what's that special something?"

Leta looked at Mina. There was never anything that that girl missed.
She might take on a lot of things, but she always kept close with her
friends.

"Well, Andrew's girlfriend," she started.

"What about her?"

"She broke up with him."

"Oh, I see. Does that now leave him for you?" Mina asked with a sly
wink.

"I'm hoping."

"Well, we'll see," she said, throwing Leta's words back at her.

Leta scowled, "Venus, you really are something."

Mina's eyes sparkled with laughter. "Don't forget yourself."

Leta shook her head. "How about we go see the others, I'm sure it
would be a nice day for it," she suggested.

Mina nodded. Then they started to walk. Mina smiled at Shay's face in
her mind, I wonder about you.

Shay, himself couldn't remove Mina from his mind. She was something so
sweet, so caring that he wished that he could have talked to her a bit
longer. But walking from the park, he decided that maybe he should try
to either go to the temple again, or, come back to the park again,
hoping to see her again.

Either way, he knew he'd see her again.

* * *

The Emperor sat looking out the window. The shadows were overlapping
him. He heard a knock at the door. "Yes?"

The door opened, and the general walked in. "Word on Shay?" the
Emperor asked.

"Sorry imperial majesty, but there has been nothing."

"Well try harder, we need that boy. It wasn't his conscious decision.
We need his power, and never does the imperial family join with the
mere mortals."

"Yes, imperial great one."

"And general, if he's not found, you'll be considered greatly under
investigation."

"Yes Emperor."

"Dismissed, now go. And next time you better have word on where Shay
is, otherwise I'll be very put out."

The general bowed, then left the room.

The Emperor looked to the shadows again. "Find him," he ordered. The
shadows bowed, and left his sight. "He will be found," he whispered.
His voice echoed through the Imperium, sounding as the crashing
thunder.

* * *

Darien looked at Serena; she looked adorable in the summer dress that
she was wearing. He couldn't resist touching her. He kissed her on the
lips.

She smiled when they parted. "Why Darien, had I known you would've
loved the dress this much, I would have bought one of every color,"
she laughed.

"So, what's up meatball head?" he asked, taking her hand, as they
walked down the street.

"Well, not really too much. The Imperium's on the low profile."

"Well, as long as it stays that way for a while."

Serena sighed.

"What's wrong?" Darien asked her.

"It's just that... well... it seems that we have so much for a
lifetime. I mean I'm the moon princess from a thousand years ago. I
was reborn, we all were. Then we try to live normal lives. Yet, then
we go on to have our future. So, we live now, but really we already
have this future made up, where we rule Crystal Tokyo and have a
daughter."

Darien looked thoughtfully at Serena. She was really beginning to
grow. She still could be klutzy, but she really was growing up. Four
years of fighting brought out a woman that she needed to be.

"Yes, but what bothers you about it?"

She laughed, "what we don't know, is how we're going to wake the
Crystal Tokyo."

Darien smiled. "When the time comes we'll see. But, muffin, we really
do make of most of the destiny on our own, we just happen to know a
little bit about the future."

Serena blew a puff of air, blowing her bangs up in the air. "Darien,"
she said, putting her head on his shoulder. "I love you."

Darien smiled, "love you too."

Serena kept close to Darien, as they walked down the street. They
reached the corner when the windows of the store behind them
shattered. Darien covered Serena's body with his, shielding her from
the glass.

The glass flew everywhere. When it settled, Darien and Serena looked
up to see what happened. All they saw was a dark shadow. "What is it?"
Serena whispered to Darien.

He shook his head, shrugging his shoulders. "But I think..."

The shadow spread, and hit the windows of the entire street behind
them. They shattered into millions of pieces. Darien kept Serena on
the ground, shielding her body with his.

Serena hit a button on her watch, "Scouts," she called out. "On Main
Street there's a shadow attacking."

They heard her call, and moved to attack. Shay had been walking on the
other side of the street heading to his apartment. He had a few cuts
from the glass that landed on him. He saw a girl in front of him,
standing stunned. He grabbed her and slung her to the ground. "You
have to stay down."

She gasped, "well, thank you," she said quietly.

When the glass stopped flying, Shay stood, and helped the girl stand.
"Sorry if I scared you, but you could have been hit, a big shard was
headed towards you. The girl thanked him again, and then went into the
building. Shay guessed it to be where she worked.

Shay looked around; he saw that glass was everywhere. People got up
from the ground figuring it was now safe. The whole street across from
him was now windowless. The glass from all the buildings spread all
over the street.

He felt a warm trickle on the side of his face. He put his finger to
the source, and looked at his finger to see his own blood. He groaned;
that was just what he needed.

The cut didn't feel that bad. Probably only needed a Band-Aid. He
noticed people looking curiously at the windows, and the shattered
glass. Shay himself wondered what caused the commotion. He had been
walking. Then it just happened.

He heaved a sigh, then went on his way to his apartment, where he
planned to tend to his wound.

The shadow had disappeared by the time the scouts had arrived. Serena
was shaken up by what happened. Clinging to Darien was her only
support.

She tried to explain to the scouts what happened. However, the glass
spread all over the street explained enough to the scouts. Amy was
trying to figure out what the shadow was, but that was difficult. The
shadow had come and gone.

A few ambulances arrived shortly after the shattering of the glass.
There was about a dozen people that were seriously hurt. Many had a
few nicks, Serena included.

Darien had been more serious then Serena, being that he was nearer to
the glass, and he shielded Serena with his own body.

There were some gashes on his back, which required some heavy
bandaging. Darien really didn't want to go to a hospital, so when the
scouts arrived, a paramedic was arguing with Darien about the issue.

Rei looked at Serena. "How are you?"

She shrugged, " I think it was just scary because it came out of
nowhere."

Amy shook her head; "it came from the Imperium."

Serena looked at Amy, still holding onto Darien's hand as he argued
with the paramedic. She was only going to let it go on for another
minute, before she stepped in and told Darien that he was going to
listen to the paramedic.

"The energy patterns the same way any other creature from the Imperium
does. So, the Imperium has no let loose it's dominions."

Serena shuddered. "That means that we won't we able to do much of
anything. The Imperium scum could be anywhere."

Leta shouldered Mina, who was looking distantly off in the distance.
"What's up girl?" she asked.

Mina blinked her eyes as if waking from a dream. "Hmm?"

Leta half smiled. "I knew it, you..." she said, then lowering her
voice to a whisper, "you have it bad for Shay."

Mina's eyes widened in some surprise. "Leta, what makes you think
that?"

Leta looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Mina, you're one of my
best friends, how do I not know you so well. I can just tell that he
reached you."

Mina blushed furiously. "Don't worry your secret is safe with me."

Mina smiled gratefully.

Amy looked up at the two of them. "Will you two be able to make it to
a meeting tomorrow morning?" she asked.

They both nodded. Then Rei told her she would make it too, and Serena
just solemnly nodded her agreement to the meeting.

Finally Serena turned to Darien, "Muffin, come on, I'll go with you to
the hospital. But maybe, just maybe could we get him bandaged up at
the ambulance?" Serena asked the paramedic.

He nodded eagerly, he was relieved that he could tend to Darien, then
get on to the other patients.

Serena turned to the scouts; "I'm just going to go with..."

Rei motioned her to go. Serena went with Darien and the paramedic to
get Darien's back treated. They cleaned it, then bandaged it up,
although they considered giving him stitches they were that deep. Once
that was done, Serena and Darien went back to the scouts.

"Well," Rei said thoughtfully, "I guess we have an enemy with no
face."

Leta growled, "I hate those kind of enemies. If it's really the
Imperium that is attacking with shadows, then we have difficult times
coming to us."

Amy shrugged, "it just might mean that it'll take longer. I don't
really think that they'll have all the advantages. There was some
strange energy wave motion near the forest where the gap was. So,
there is a possibility that we can learn when they're releasing the
fighters."

Mina looked to the direction, which was the forest; "I really hope
so."

Serena sighed, "I do too."

Darien clutched her closer to him, flinching slightly at the pain in
his back. He really hoped that Amy was right. Otherwise, they would
end up being in the undertow of their attacks and energy.

Serena looked at the shattered glass, and the now windowless
buildings. "I wonder what they wanted?"

* * *

The general looked at the `det standing before him. "What do you
want?" he asked in a brisk voice.

"There was a flaw in the mission today sir," the young lad answered.

"What happened?" he asked the `det, whirling around to face him. He
trembled slightly at the fierceness of the general's eyes.

"We were initiating the search for the wanted body, and there was a
street that shattered it's entire glass content on the one side."

The general's eyes flashed. Then he sighed in resignation. "You never
mind that. It's the Emperor's other dominions. You stick to your
mission and keep your noses clean of the Ferriks."

"Yes sir."

"Dismissed."

The `det left the office, leaving the general to shake his head. He
knew the emperor was losing his patience. However, the computer
glitched when they tried to find Shay. If he was hit right away by the
blank waves while proceeding with the closing of the portico, then
there may be a chance that the system was blanked of his recorded
location on Earth.

Nevertheless, he thought, if the Emperor finds Shay before we do. Then
it's the end for a lot of people.

The general headed to the window looking towards the imperial
quarters. It was the towers above the city that held the power in its
palm, which held the imperial family. He looked to the tower that held
the emperor, high above everything.

He saw the shadow descend from the sky to the Emperor's tower. The
general swallowed nervously. The Ferriks were something that held the
most power in the Imperium next to some Imperium members. "Shay must
be more important then we know."

* Note *

Well, this is coming along as good as I can hope, make comments to
tell me what you think. And please do, because I really need to know
what you think. I don't know if I should continue, because this is my
first fan fic.