Prologue: Where are you?
"SAILOR MARS WATCH OUT!"
The warning cry came from a very bloody and bruised Sailor Venus. The long golden hair blonde had fallen to her knees on seconds before and looked up in time to see one of their attacks raise its arm and toss over an energy ball. Sailor Mars turned and began to raise her wand for a defense attack, but was only hit dead on in the chest by the blast. She hit the ground hard with a loud thud as her head hit the grass below her. She tumbled over a couple of times before landing on her stomach.
The attack came as a surprise to the group of young teenagers and young man. There had been no signs of any negative energy that would lead them to believe there was an enemy again. Their foes came in a group of twenty. Tall, thin, figures dressed up in black clothing that hid their faces. They made themselves appear to be ninjas that the group had only seen in action movies. However, they moved with a great deal of agility and speed that it made them seem non-human like. It was as if they were merely shadows moving with the force of the wind.
"Damnit! Where is that stupid klutz?" Sailor Mars shouted out in annoyance. She lifted herself up on all fours which gave Venus enough time to crawl over to her friend and help each other stand.
"She's not answering her communicator." Sailor Mercury called out as she swung her leg high and to the left in order to hit the face of one of their foes. Luckily her calculated timing was right on and she was able to smack one of the youmas to the ground. That gave her enough time to retrieve her mini computer and scan the fallen one. They had to have a weakness somewhere; everything they ever fought had a weak point. She just had to find it.
The group gathered into a circle in the middle of the park. A perfectly good day to have a picnic by the lake was now ruined. Would they ever get a rest, or were they doomed to spend eternity fighting for their lives and home? Back to back, the stood in a fighting stance as the youmas recovered from their attacks and began circling the scouts.
"When I get my hands on that scrawny little neck of Usagi's I'm gonn-." Mars swore, gritting her teeth and balling up her fists. She had been interrupted by another female voice.
"Calm down, Mars. Let's deal with these things and then we'll find out what's wrong with Usagi." Sailor Mercury called out.
The "ninja" youmas lifted up their thin swords and walked towards the girls. When they were about to attack a strange earth-shattering feeling overcame all of them and then a crackling golden lighting bolt slashed out like an angry snake striking out at its prey. The group of girls covered their eyes with one of their arms and jumped back a step so that the lightening attack wouldn't hit them. When all was settled they uncovered their eyes to see that Tuxedo Mask had transformed into his Prince Endymion form. They let out a sigh of relief and looked upon the sight before them. Their attackers had been thrown to the group, lying their moaning in pain. Each scout's lip cracked to the side as a victorious grin made its way onto their faces. They readied their attack to finish of the youmas suddenly the group in black had been engulfed in individual holes that appeared beneath them, swallowed them up, and disappeared.
The scouts and Endymion held a concern look in their eyes, not sure what had just happened. Waiting a moment to make sure that the youmas had not deceived them, they recuperated from the small battle and began picking up the mess that way made from the beginning. Endymion looked around and then turned back to the scouts.
"Where is Sailor Moon?"
Each glanced around at each other and shrugged. Usagi had never missed a battle before. They knew something must have happened for her to abandon her friends like that. Sailor Mars was angry, yes, but over the three years that they had fought along side each other, she learned to have faith in her princess. She had an eerie feeling that crept inside her stomach and made it twist up inside. Yet, as of lately, her friend had missed out on the last couple of attacks.
"She never came." Sailor Venus said, picking up the loaf of bread.
"Never even answered her communicator." Came from Sailor Mercury who knelt down to start placing fruit in the wooden picnic basket.
"This is the fifth battle she's missed." Again Sailor Mars gritted her teeth and crumbled the plastic container of chocolate pudding like a paper ball. When the contents made its way down her balled up fists she cursed and tossed the plastic cup.
"As a matter of fact, she wasn't in class or at lunch yesterday. No one has heard from her." Sailor Jupiter picked out the forks and knifes from the trees. They had been thrown at the youmas when they first attacked. As they dodged the flying utensils from Jupiter, the girls had time to power up.
The scouts let the silence fall over them all as they began to ponder what could have made Usagi act the way she did. Lately she had seemed distant, distracted, and determined about something. Luna had even mentioned at the scout meeting the other day that Usagi would leave during the middle of the night and night return until dawn that morning. She always looked exhausted, but even more determined to make it through the day without any sleep. Her grades had fallen drastically and her friends were worried. Mercury lifted her head.
"What if she heard one of our conversations at the temple? You know the one we had the last time she was late? We said some hurtful things about her. You don't think she came in time to hear it all do you?" She questioned to the others, seeing their eyes widen at the thought. Jupiter shook her head and tossed the silver utensils in the basket.
"Yeah, but we didn't mean them. She should know that. I mean we talk down to her sometimes because it's the only way to get her to improve herself. Usagi knows we are only trying to help her."
"What if she doesn't? Usagi sometimes takes what we say pretty serious. I've seen how hurtful she gets after we yell at her. I know she is trying." Mercury tried to take up for her friend. Trying her best to reason what could be wrong.
"Why hasn't she grown up though? She is a princess and Sailor Moon. Why can't she understand that she has a lot of responsibility? We have to insure the coming of Crystal Tokyo. We have to protect our home. The sooner she comes to realize that, the faster we can be at ease." Mars bit back.
"Usagi is only a teenager-"; Mercury tried to defend her friend again but was caught off by Mars.
"Stop taking up for her! We are all teenagers, Mercury! We have the same responsibility as her, given it at the same time. We've learned to deal with the hand we were given, now she has to! She is going to be Earth's freaking queen some day!" She shouted back, no throwing things into the basket, trying to relieve her anger.
While the argument was going on Venus and Endymion stayed silent. They hadn't known Usagi from the very beginning, as well as the other three did. They had known her from the past, but the two were not exactly alike. They felt as if they had no room to speak now, but their guilty conscience took over once they remembered how badly they spoke of Usagi. They tried to defend their inner selves by admitting that they were just angry and upset with out the blonde was handling things. Sure, she came in just in time to save the world many times, but her attitude was all wrong. Something had to be done and that was what the group had been discussing that night.
However, right now all the group could think of was: Where is Usagi?
On the far side of the park a tall figure stood in the shadows of a large tree. He leaned up against it with his arms crossed over his chest. His face was set in a stone cold serious expression, with his lips pierced against each other. The man turned his head slightly to the side and looked out of the corner of his eye. Behind the tree stood the said Usagi whom everyone was worried about, she was knelt down and clutched the locket around her neck.
"You ready?" He spoke in a deep voice, yet softly to the young teenage girl behind the tree. "If you aren't, we can wait one more day." He finished.
The blonde ordango pressed her lips against one of her knees and sat quietly in her position. With one hand clutching the necklace and the other holding on to the bark of the tree, she thought of what she was about to do. If she did this now, there was no turning back. Usagi took another moment before looking up at the man that looked so much like a younger version of Prince Diamond. She whispered as softly as he did, as to not draw attention to the scouts just yet.
"The longer we wait, the more time Red Beard has to seek his revenge on us. We need to get to him before he attacks the solar system. I just don't get why I have to transform into my princess form. What good is that going to do?" Usagi knew that no matter what form she took, it was still going to be her. What difference would it make?
"The life form of the princess must be taken by a prince. In order for you to go through with the ritual, you cannot have the essence of Serenity in you, only Sailor Moon. A warrior for a warrior." He explained simply, but not detailed enough. Usagi was still confused but trusted the man in front of her.
Usagi took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. With enough concentration she was able to bring forth the essence of the princess within her and transform. The silver lights that glowed from the surface of the skin illuminated and caught the attention of the scouts. However, they did not see their leader behind the tree, only the man that stood beside it. They only assumed that the light came from him. The scouts and Endymion tensed up and took their fighting stance again.
"These guys just don't give up do they?" Jupiter asked as she took a step forward to line herself up with Venus who looked at the figure with curious eyes. There was a certain familiar aura around him that she couldn't quite place. She motioned for the others to hold their places.
"Who are you and what do you want?" She question in an interrogating way. There was definitely something about this guy that made her skin crawl and the sudden gust of wind didn't help the matter. It sent chills running up her spine and she could sense that something important was about to happen.
"I already have what I want." He stated with a smartass tone, avoiding the first half of the question. The pale, white haired man paused in order to make the tension rise. He could tell that their hearts were beginning to beat faster. It was how any one would get right before a fight began, but there wouldn't be a fight. "I have Princess Serenity…or at least I did."
Endymion growled and tightened his grip on the sword he held. The mischievous grin on the strangers face didn't make him feel any better. Images of different scenarios where he beat the living hell out of the man in the navy blue metallic armor ran through his mind. He watched as the stranger lifted one side of his midnight black cape as to show off the grey interior.
"You see, in a moment, she is going to die." He continued on, "In a slow, agonizing, pain-wrenching, death."
Endymion's nose started to flare up and his sapphire colored eyes darkened and narrowed into pure hatred for this man that stood before him. First he was going to punch him and knock his jaw out of place, and then he was going to grab his white low pony tail, yank it to group and slice him open like the frog he dissected in the 10th grade. No one was going to threaten the life of his Usako and get away with it.
"You lie." Endymion said in a deep, low voice that sounded much like the warning growl a wolf gives to his prey before attacking.
Sailor Mars took her place beside Endymion, sharing the same negative expression. She was disgusted with this man. Who did he think he was? No one would harm her friend and get away with it. She was the only one that could inflict pain on the ditzy blonde. Mars would make this stranger burn in hell before letting him touch Usagi.
"You're bloody corps will hit the ground before you touch a finger on her." She threatened. Mars motioned for the other scouts to power up their wands and get ready to attack. Endymion lifted his sword up much like a batter would in the game of baseball. His knuckles now white from the grip he held. Not being able to take the presence of this man any longer, the ebony haired prince let out a battle cry as he launched forward to strike the man where he stood.
The scouts took that as a sign to attack full force. There would be no way the man could survive with what they were throwing at him. However, as Endymion ran towards the man he felt like he was suddenly living in slow motion. He saw the stranger lower his cape to reveal Princess Serenity standing there with her hands clasped together in front of her as if she was praying. The prince watched as he saw each of the scouts' attacks fly pass him and hit the blonde with full force.
Like a bad nightmare, Endymion could not lift his legs up enough to pick up the speed he wanted to step in front of Serenity. He watched each attack hit her and when he realized that he was heading straight for her, sword in hand, he tried to stop himself. The stranger took a step forward and picked his foot up so that Endymion lost his footing and tripped into Serenity.
The only sound that the prince heard was that of his sword piercing through his lovers skin and reach all the way through. The sudden gasp for breath in his ear as their bodies collided with each other. With both of her hands, she reached up and took hold of his shoulders. Serenity pulled Endymion into an embrace and grunted. He could tell that she took in a deep breath, and before he knew it, everything had returned back to his normal speed. As they were falling, he regained his balance and caught the teenager before she hit the grass below. He closed his tearful eyes and began to cry out in horror at what he had done.
The scouts stood frozen in their position as the scene folded out in front of them. What had they done? Not sure of what to do, they just stood there to see what would happen next. The stranger retraced his steps and leaned back against the tree. He looked down with his grey eyes, expressionless.
"I didn't have to do a thing. You did the work for me." He stated before disappearing.
Endymion knelt down slowly, holding Serenity's form gently. She gasped for air, short breaths and a distant look in her eyes. With her hands, she wrapped them around her lover's neck and pulled him closer to her bloody lips.
"Thank you…" And that was it, before Endymion or any of the others could respond; the body of Serenity had disappeared much like the stranger had. The sword laid flat on the ground, no traces of the innocent body it had murdered. The man turned to look at the scouts that had matching baffled expressions.
What had just happened?