Ghost of Us
Sometimes mistakes can't be forgiven. Sometimes what you
do means more than what you are. And sometimes sometimes comes too often.
" Serena you can't. You just can't do this anymore!" Lita
cried, tears in her eyes.
" What?" Serena whispered, eyes wide and hands shaking.
" You heard her. Give it to me." Raye ordered. Triumph was
in her eyes, power stood her tall, and revenge was in her heart. " I win. This
time I win." She thought.
" You can't mean…" Serena faded off.
" We do." Amy added in her own opinion. " It's for the
sake of the rest of us. For the safety of this town." She consoled herself.
" Serena…maybe it's time to give up. Even the best leaders
retire at sometime." Mina said softly. Tears streamed down her cheek, while she
cradled her broken arm.
" Rini?" Serena whispered, feeling a small hand on her
arm. She was startled at finding victory and menace in the blood red eyes.
" You never deserved to be Sailor Moon. You never deserved
the position of the leader. And you never deserved Darien." Rini finished
triumphantly. She lifted her hand from Serena's arm and leaned into Darien's
arms.
" Darien?" Serena whispered, trivial hope in her eyes.
Darien looked up at the sky then straight at the watering
azure eyes. " You've never been a great fighter and a hopeless leader. You have
little talents, little manners. Sometimes it's a wonder we put up with you.
It's a wonder how you haven't killed us all with your careless mistakes. I mean
look at what you did to Mina!" he stared back at the sky, eyes as dark as a
moonless night.
Serena looked at Mina. Her friend was tattered and torn.
Her bloody broken arm was cradled in the other badly battered one. Serena's
eyes circled the group glancing off each unfriendly face. Scrapes here, burns
there, but always the dark distant eyes.
" Fine." Serena yanked her brooch off of its place amidst
the red ribbons. Instantly cold wind engulfed her and Serena was dressed in her
jeans and tank. She stared at the sparkling pale crimson trinket in her hand.
She looked up when a slender hand came in view. Raye had held her hand out,
eyes greedy and a slight touch of happiness on her lips. Serena shed a small
glittering tear and as it landed on the brooch, she placed it on the palm of Raye's
hand.
" Moon Crystal Power." Raye cried as soon as she felt the
coldness of the brooch in her hand.
Serena turned away as Raye was swallowed up in red
ribbons.
" So who's going to be Sailor Mars now?" Lita muttered.
" Me!" Rini cried jumping up and down.
Only Mina and Luna saw the petite form slowly walk away
beneath the dark towering trees.
" No one cares. No one is concerned. No one will bother
with the klutzy former hero." Serena said listlessly as she walked among the
shadowy trees. " Hah. What hero?" she scoffed. What the scouts had said had
finally sunk in. " Why be in denial? It's true. Right on the dot." She thought
out loud. It seemed logical.
" Denial is not only a river in Egypt. (de-Nile! Get it?)"
a voice sang above in the trees.
" What?" Serena gasped, with her head up trying to peer
into the darkness. She finally located a dim figure blocking the little
moonlight from the tree openings.
The man hopped gracefully down from the trees. As he
neared Serena, she could see a dark hair…an ivory complexion…board
shoulders…firm stomach…and as he stood half a foot away from her she gasped.
Moonlight had streaked across his face. His face so familiar. So much like… "
Darien." Serena whispered. The man stared straight back into her eyes. His eyes
were a deep blue and held…evil.
" Not Darien." He replied softly. He brought a strong hand
to stroke her cheek. His warm hands made her gasp as it came in contact with
her freezing cheek.
" But how…" Serena murmured, holding onto the hand,
staring at the lines running across its palm. The hand closed around Serena's
pale white one.
" Just because I'm on the dark side doesn't mean I can't
be warm. Or love someone." He added.
Serena stared up at the eyes. She saw flickers of warmth, gentleness,
and even a touch of love in the cobalt eyes. " Sapphire." She whispered the
barriers broke. Tears streamed down her bitter cheeks, bringing a pale pink
flush across it. Strong arms wrapped themselves around her, trying to impede
her heaving sobs and shaking body. " It'll be alright. You'll see. I'm here.
Here forever with you." He whispered into her ear.
" They kicked you out?" Sapphire growled hands clenched in
anger.
" Yeah." Serena replied, head on his chest. Wind swirled
around the couple making the leaves spiraling to the ground and the grass stir
like waves.
" Doesn't matter. You can be my queen." He whispered, lips
in her golden hair.
Serena sat up in his lap. She stared him straight in the
eye. Her scarlet lips opened and asked what her heart had hid. " Do you love
me?" she inquired.
" I do. And I would never betray you. Like he did." He
replied, honesty shining in his eyes. Tears once again sparkled down her
cheeks.
" Then I will be your queen because I love you too."
Serena smiled through her tears. Their lips made the final decision. It was
like a quill pen signing their names on the line at the bottom of the contract.
Like a diamond engraving their vows in stone. Like a promise inscribed in the
stars.
Light spun around Serena like dancing ribbons and consumed
her. In a flash of light and a swirl of flower petals Serena stood before
Sapphire. The Queen stood before her King. Her hair had come undone from her
buns and cascaded down to the grass. She was clothed in a deep blue dress that
fitted her like the sparkle in her eye. The gown fell from its tapered waist
and the layers flowed to the ground like waves. As she ran towards Sapphire the
gown's silver glitter twinkled as the moonlight hit it. Her long chain with a
blue gem hanging from it swung left to right from her quick movements. Her
circlet of magnificently twisted silver stood amongst her soft blonde hair.
Lastly when Serena held her face up in the moonlight, as Sapphire rained kisses
on her cheeks and lips, a black crescent moon frowned on her forehead.
~ A Few Weeks Later ~
" You mean she never came home?" Mina questioned Luna as
the scouts, Darien, and Rini sat at the steps of Raye's shrine.
" No. She hasn't been home for weeks. Her parents don't
seem to notice, in fact they don't even remember having her as a daughter! Her
mother shooed me away when I came into Serena's room, that wasn't even her
room! It was empty of all her things and became a study. When I was running out
I looked at the family picture on top of the mantle of the fireplace and Serena
was missing from it! It was like she didn't even exist to the family!" Luna
cried in despair.
" Where did you stay?" Amy asked quietly.
" With Lita. I ran to her place when Serena's mother
didn't recognize me." Luna bowed her head. Artemis jumped from Mina's lap to
comfort the black cat.
" Makes sense. If Serena never existed, then either did
you Luna." Amy thought out loud as she tapped her nose with her pen. She rested
her elbows onto the stack of books on her lap as she cradled her head on her
hands.
" Where can she be?" Lita asked to no one in particular.
" I have to go. I have exams tomorrow." Darien said
quickly as he walked down the white steps to his car. He left Rini sitting
there contemplating on going with him or staying. As she rose to follow him,
Mina stopped her.
" Don't you even miss Serena? Do you stay with Darien?"
Mina inquired.
" I don't miss Serena!" Rini cried triumphantly. " With
out her I have Darien all to myself. Darien never loved her anyways! He loves
me and only me!"
" How can you say that? Without Serena you shouldn't even
be alive!" Amy cried tears forming in her eyes as she listened to the little
girl's selfish antics.
" Who cares about her? She's such a klutz and a crybaby. I
always wondered how Darien could ever love her. I'm more mature than she is."
Rini said with all the dignity a little girl could muster.
" You selfish brat! Serena loved you and Darien loved her!
Never ever insult Serena in front of me. She was the best friend anyone of us
could have." Lita threaten.
" But I did insult her in front of you. That night when
you all made her turn in her brooch, you all insulted her. You kicked her out
of the group. Remember? You said she was an awful leader and Raye took her
brooch and became Sailor Moon. Even Darien said bad things about her!" Rini
countered in glee.
Lita's eyes filled with tears as she remembered her own
selfishness that night. The night that changed all their lives. The night that
they made the biggest mistake. The night they couldn't relive and change. " Oh,
how could we have done that to you Serena?" Lita moaned, head in her hands.
" Well you did and a good thing to. Raye is a better
leader. Anyways, I have to find Darien." Rini smiled, skipping off.
" How could we?" Raye whispered as a tear slipped from her
eye and fell onto the pink brooch in her hand.
" How could I have betrayed you?" Darien thought as he
stood on the tallest branch of the tree towering Raye's temple.
" Attack in the south side of the park!" Mina cried
through the communicator the scouts.
Soon all the scouts were there, including Tuxedo Mask. Now
his task was to protect Rini. Raye had decided to turn down the leader position
and stay Sailor Mars. Mina had taken the job as the leader of the scouts. It
was what the future Sailor Venus was anyway, as Artemis told them. The gooey
green monster was soon killed and the scouts had stood tiredly there. They had
to do extra work to finish it off because Sailor Moon was there to end it.
" I think…that I should be Sailor Moon." Rini announced at
the end of the battle.
" What?" Raye
thundered.
" I would be a better leader than that Meatball Head."
Rini persisted.
" Oh, you think so little girl?" a voice drawled above all
of their heads.
" Serena!" Raye gasped, staring at the girl with long
blonde hair, floating above them. She was decorated in a long indigo gown, a
silver chain with a blue gem, and a circlet of silver. One her milky white
forehead adorned a black crescent moon. The sign of evil.
" So how is a life mortal?" Serena yawned.
" Great! A lot better now that you're out of it! In fact,
I'm going to be Sailor Moon!" Rini smirked, once she got over the shock of
Serena's evil appearance.
Serena's eyes darkened to a black with tinges of navy. "
Need I remind you, that in life there is always death." Her gaze rested on Amy.
" There is darkness in light." She moved her eyes onto Mina. " There is pain in
joy." Finally her blue eyes meet Dariens. " And there are thorns on the rose."
" Sere honey?" a male voice questioned as he came in
sight, floating next to Serena.
" Sapphire." Serena's eyes lit up. She leaned over and
gave him a kiss on the cheek.
There were gasps throughout the group and eyes on Darien.
" Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Rini asked.
" Diamond gave me his life gem right before he took his
life for Serena. It enabled me to nourish me alive." Sapphire replied coldly.
He smiled. " Have you meet my queen?" he gestured to Serena.
" Queen?" Mina echoed.
" Queen of the Dark Moon." Sapphire whispered, eyes dark.
