Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the canon characters. Miyako, Cleo, Lia, Harper, and Owen, as well as a few others, are only figments that have escaped from my imagination.
Chapter One: Parting Ways
Darien lifted the last box out of the trunk of Trista's car. Carrying it into the Lambert house, he almost ran into Noland.
"That the last of it?" Noland asked.
The ebon-haired man nodded. "Yeah. You ready to go?"
"Europe, here we come!" Noland called, as Darien passed him to walk up the stairs.
The door to the master bedroom was open, revealing Trista putting a few touches on the room. The next two doors were closed, though he could hear music being blasted behind one of them, marked with a large 'C'. He walked down to the fourth room on the second floor. The former guest room would now be Serena's room.
His girlfriend was already up there, unpacking the boxes they'd brought up. She'd put her hair back into her two buns and pigtails, once she'd gotten inside. Already, her hair had regained the length she'd cut off for the Snowflake Ball.
"Just set in on the bed," she stated, hanging up her school uniforms in the closet.
The room was dominated by dark wood tones on the furniture, and dark blue walls, with a nighttime sky painted across the ceiling. He knew, without being told, this room had once been decorated for him, back when the Lamberts had hoped they might still be able to take him in.
Once he set the box down, Serena turned to him. "I'm going to miss you."
"And I'm going to miss you," he promised, pulling her into his arms. "Phone calls just aren't going to be the same."
"No," she choked out, fighting to hold back her tears. "But that doesn't give you an excuse not to call. I don't care about the time difference."
"With any luck, we'll find Zoicite quickly. And Jadeite, too."
She nodded, tightening her grip on his shirt. "And you really think Zoicite's in Europe?"
"Well, Kunzite's memories came back while he was in the Middle East, which was once the Western Kingdom. And Nephlite was here, in America, and this was once part of the Eastern Kingdom. Europe, as the majority of the Northern Kingdom, seems the most likely place to start. If not, we'll look in Western Russia, next. Or, maybe, if he's already awakened, he'll be drawn back here. Jadeite's probably going to be the hard one to find. The Southern Kingdom has been so dramatically altered."
Serena drew back, pulling out the Star Locket. "Take it with you. Please."
He reverently took it and slid it into his subspace pocket.
"Since we can't go to the airport with you, I'll say goodbye here." Serena placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "Come safely back to me."
He drew her back in, pressing his nose into her hair. He breathed in the scent of strawberries and roses, and the unique, clean scent that was Serena.
"I will," he vowed, reluctantly releasing her. "I'll call you, as soon as we land in France. Yes, you'll probably be in class, but, at least you'll know we arrived safely."
"I'll be waiting." She drew back again, furiously wiping at her tears. "You'd better go say goodbye to Miyako. I'm sure she's waiting."
Darien reached into his pocket and pulled out his henshin rose. "I know it's still touched by darkness, much like our lives are, right now. But I'd feel better if it were somewhere I can't be tempted to use it. I've come too close, being here."
She held out her hands, clutching the flower gently. "As soon as I can, I'll purify it. I promise. Until then…" She turned and opened a silver jewelry box. Lifting out it's false bottom, she placed the rose inside. "There. That should work for now."
He pulled her back in for another kiss, lingering this time. "That'll have to hold me, until we can be together, again."
Reluctantly, they parted and Darien made his way back downstairs. The other two doors were open, now, revealing Cleo's cluttered room and the neat precision on Kyle's. The two Lambert siblings were nowhere to be seen, however.
On the first floor, he knocked on the open door to Miyako's room, leaning against the door frame.
"Darien!" Miyako leapt off her bed, throwing her arms around him. "Do you really have to go? We haven't gotten to really know each other, yet."
"I'll be back soon, I promise. We need to find the other Shitennou."
"Just like before, huh? Except Father isn't pushing you to go." She gave a slight laugh.
He nodded, holding her close. "I'll call. I promise. I'll keep you up to date. I'll even send you a few postcards, alright?"
"Sure," she said, pulling back. "I have something for you, by the way."
She slipped away from him, going to her closet. She carefully lifted down an old shoebox, placing in on her bed.
"After we defeated Ichirou, the other Elemental Warriors and I worked on these, with some help from Serena. We noticed the glamors Kyle and the others have aren't very strong. I doubt they'd last under close scrutiny. And you don't have a henshin form to use anymore." She shrugged. "So, we discussed it and came up with these, plucked from the Garden and enhanced with our magic."
She pulled the lid off the box, revealing seven rosebuds nestled inside.
"They should work a lot like your henshin rose, though it won't be the same outfit," added Miyako. "We had to create a different one. You can blame Cleo. She's the one who picked it."
Darien nodded, reaching out and examining the roses. Each one was a different color, black, white, red, orange, green, blue, and cream, each a perfect rosebud, just like the one he'd handed to Serena.
"The cream one is yours. The black is Owens, white for Harper, orange to Kyle, green belongs to Noland, red for Jadeite, and blue for Zoicite." She explained, not looking up at him.
Darien picked up the cream rose, flicking it the way he had his dark pink one. Power shimmered around him as the rose bloomed. Looking down, he saw baggy pants, a loose, long-sleeved tunic, belted with a wide strip of fabric, all of which were the same cream as his rose, and heavy, light brown leather boots. He glanced over to Miyako's mirror. His face was almost invisible, under the loose head covering and the cloth mask covering the lower half of his face. A long cape wrapped around his shoulders, pinned with a round pin, a gold crescent moon on a field of dark blue.
"Isn't this the outfit we used to catch Kunzite wearing on occasion?" Noland asked, walking into the room. "By the way, he's waiting out be the car for the rest of us."
Darien nodded, letting the henshin fade. "Thank you, Miyako. Tell the others thank you, as well. Though Kyle may kill Cleo for picking that outfit."
"It was that or Jadeite's assassin cloak," she laughed.
"This is definitely preferable," he agreed. "Talk to you soon, little sis."
She nodded, pushing the box into his hands. "Make sure everybody gets theirs, alright?"
He grinned. "Behave, Miyako."
She joined Cleo and Usagi on the still snow-covered porch, waving until Kyle's car was out of sight.
"Come on. We'd better get some sleep. It's back to school in the morning," sighed Cleo. "Second semester, here we come."
"Hey, that means we're getting closer to prom!" Miyako cheered.
"I thought prom was only for juniors and seniors." Usagi frowned.
"At Terrarose High, it is. Firerose Prep is small enough, prom is open to everyone. Well, as long as you attend Firerose Prep, or your date does," explained the ebon-haired girl.
-8-
Over Terrarose hovered a ship, invisible to all eyes, save those who inhabited it. In a circular chamber near the bottom, looking out over the town, stood a young man, with fiery red hair. Behind him, sitting before four dressing tables, sat four young women, hidden in shadows.
"Are you sure they're coming here, Rubeus?"
The man, called Rubeus, didn't even turn. "Wiseman says this is where they're coming. So, this is where we wait. Soon, we'll have them, the little Rabbit, the little Hedgehog, and the little Flower."
The four women shared a dark smile.
"It's only a matter of time," he concluded.
-8-
"So, have you decided on your winter extracurricular, yet?"
Miyako and Usagi strolled towards the public library.
"Not yet," replied the blonde. "Have you?"
"No. There's not really anything that really stands out, you know? I've thought about the upcoming play but… I just don't know."
"Cleo's already picked hers."
"Cleo has played softball since we were kids. Of course she's already picked her extracurricular. And she'll be volunteering at the kids' softball clinic this summer, just like she has the last two."
"Do you play softball?"
"Nope. Never been my sport."
They'd almost made it to the library, when something heavy dropped on Usagi. Two more flumps were heard in the nearby snowbank.
"What in the world?" Usagi yelped.
The weight was quickly gone. She scrambled to her feed, to find Miyako staring at a strange young girl in her arms, her pink hair pulled up in an all too familiar hairstyle.
-8-
Okay, so I know the chapter's a little on the short side. I have a feeling the first few are going to be that way. But, then again, my chapters do tend to be fairly short, don't they? Anyway, I'm hoping to be able to keep to weekly updates with this one. No guarantees, but that's the plan.
Anyway, I need a couple of ideas from all of you, if you're willing. I need something for the winter/spring season for an extracurricular for Miyako and Usagi. I have one in mind, but I'm not sure how well I really like it. Also, as I said at the end of Elemental Secrets, I'm working on a new Sailor Moon story, unconnected to this one, where she meets the Outers before the Inners. While I'd like to thank my reviewer, none, for the idea, I'm really thinking about using someone else for the villain. However, I will keep them in mind for a future story in this arc. I'm leaning towards Alan and Ann for the villains in that one. Partially because I've never written them, but also because they are from outside our galaxy, which fits with the Outers. It's either them or a new sub-general from Beryl. Just curious which you'd prefer to see.