Chapter 3: Wake up

Serena burst through the front gate. Scrabbling to find the key to her front door. She found it, sending the silver key home.

"Mom! Dad!" Serena screamed as she flew upstairs, her boyfriend not too far behind. "Sammy! Rini! Luna!"

She opened her parents' room. Her fear subsided when she saw the two figures sleeping safely in bed. Slowly she approached them.

"Mom, wake up." She shook her shoulder, trying to stir her mother. "Dad, come on get up." She leaned over, doing the same thing. Hysteria started to rise again. "Come on! Get up!" she pushed them harder. Backing away when they did nothing but snore lightly, Serena ran out and into her own room.

"Luna, something is wrong." Even when the words left her mouth, she knew that Luna wasn't going to wake up. She was still curled up in the same position when she had left.

"Luna, please get up." She lifted the sleeping cat. Cradling her like a baby, she tugged on her ears lightly; a gesture that usually woke her. Not even a wag of her tail, or a rhythmic purr.

Gently she laid her pet down in the middle of the bed before looking for Darien.

"Darien? They aren't waking up." She shouted down the hallway, on the brink of tears. She had no clue what was going on.

She found him in Rini's room. Sitting on the edge of her pink bed, she watched as he stroked her hair lovingly. He looked as if he had lost a part of his world.

Gathering her courage, she walked over to him placing a hand on his shoulder for comfort.

"She won't wake up." His voice was low, trembling a little. "I checked on Sammy too. It's like they're all under a sleeping spell."

"But how come we're not?"

"I don't know." He wanted to know the same thing.

Rising, he grabbed her hand for support. "But we're going to find out and fix this." He looked down at her. She saw a mixture of sadness, anger, and fight swimming in his eyes. Drying her own, Serena nodded.

"Let's go." They led each other out of her home. Walking down the street, they passed empty stores that should have been opened hours ago; restaurants that would have had been full of customers, school yards should have had children playing in them.

Instead, it was just the two of them wondering the streets.

"So this is the work of the Negaverse?" Serena asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Or some evil force out there."

"But what's the point in all of this? Why put everyone to sleep? It doesn't make any sense to me." Worried and frustrated, the blonde racked her nails through her hair, knocking a few pins out. One of her buns fell out.

"Damn it!" Scooping the plastic pins off the concrete, tears began to fall.

"Serena." Darien crouch down, encasing her in his arms he let her cry on his shoulders. "It's going to be ok. We're going to fix this."

"I know." She pulled herself together. "Thanks." She gave a weak smile. She got up to her feet. Walking over to the window shop, she used it as a mirror as she fixed her hair.

"I think the reason why they put everyone to sleep is because it's the quickest and easiest way to kill everybody.

Darien worked his theory. Leaning up against the window, he kept watch for the enemy. He had a feeling that by now, they knew there were survivors and was now on the move.

"Everyone is still alive, but if no one is awake, they can't take care of themselves. In reality, it will just be a slow process of starvation."

"We won't let that happen." Serena promised, pushing in the last pin.

"I see that humans are a lot smarter than I thought." Taken by surprise, she jumped turning in the direction of the voice; Darien moved in front of Serena to protect her of their newfound enemy.

She didn't look much of a threat. The silver haired woman with lavender eyes was borderline anorexic. She would have been beautiful if her face wasn't sunken in, her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and every bone in her body was visible against sickly gray flesh. The blue dress that she wore hung loosely around her frame, being held together by a thin white rope.

"What is your name? Who are you?" Darien's voice commanded attention. He stepped forward, blocking his loved one from harms way.

"I really don't like introductions. It's very time consuming." The unknown woman brushed a boney hand through her hair. She shifted in discomfort when they continue to stare at her, unwilling to budge until they got an answer.

"Mandara. Though it's not like it will matter if you know my name."

"You're the one who did this." Serena growled, standing beside her counterpart.

"Naturally."

"Why?"

"To help my master take over you're sorry excuse for a planet." She jumped off the guardrail walking in the middle of the road. "I don't know how you two slipped by me," as she spoke, the couple watched as she sprinkled what looked like to be a gold glitter on the ground.

"But I'm about to fix that." She gave them no time to run after her. Mandara vanished before them leaving a pile of gold dust in her wake.

Suddenly a soft tune wafted through the air. A tune that became recognizable to Serena. It was the same melody that the teen girl was singing in her dreams.

"Serena. Serena. Snap out of it!"

"What?" Serena became startled when Darien shouted at her. She finally saw what he was getting her to look at.

The golden dusts grew and began to morph into something else.

"I think you need to transform …now!"

"Right!"

By the time Serena had transformed into Sailor Moon, the golden dust had also transformed as well.

Sailor Moon tiled her head in confusion. The golden dust had turned into a winged child; one that looked like it was past her bed time and was dressed for the part. Her gold nightgown draped on the street as she clutched a pillow bigger than her own body. Her sleepy gray eyes could barely stay opened. The only thing that was keeping her from falling face first on the ground was her wings fluttering a million miles a minute.

"Aw!" Serena clasped her hands together; blue eyes shined with happiness. "She's adorable!"

"Focus, Sailor Moon. There's more to her than we think." The valor in Tuxedo Mask's voice didn't stop her from being mesmerized by the little girl.

"I know, but…" She stood on guard when the little girl let out a big yawn; wiping her sleepy eyes with the back of her hand.

"I'm sleepy." If her voice could be any cuter, Sailor Moon would melt with delight. "It's time to go to bed."

"I don't think I can fight her." The blonde heroine shook her head. "She's just too cute!"

"It's time to go to bed." The girl repeated. Her wings continued to flutter, this time expelling a mist of gold, coming towards the two.

"Don't inhale that!" Tuxedo Mask jumped out the way; Sailor Moon did the same barely getting out of the way. The powder breezed by a tree. In seconds, its vibrant green leaves turned brown and wilted; its bark peeled and it withered away into dust.

"It's time to go to bed."

"No it's not!" in a flash, a red rose swiped past her, breaking her concentration, the gold dust disappeared.

The girl fell to the ground as a result of her wings had stopped moving; the pillow cushioned her fall.

"You're mean." A whine came out of the winged girl's mouth, tears formed in her eyes.

The two watched cautiously as she gripped the pillow. Those sleepy eyes flashed with anger. Without warning, she slammed the pillow down. White feathers shot out like bullets, going in every direction.

Her opponents moved quickly on their feet, skillfully dodging the weapons with great difficulty. They weren't given enough leeway to make an attack, so they were forced to withdraw to defense.

Using their rods, they knocked down a considerable amount of dagger-like feathers but a few still made contact.

Once the pillow had finally ran out, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask caught their breaths and saw the damage that was done.

"Are you ok, Sailor Moon?" Tuxedo Mask was worried when he saw her bleeding in many different places on her body. Some of the feathers embedded themselves in her exposed flesh.

"I'm fine." Her boyfriend was in better shape then she was. Gingerly she pulled them out; twelve in total.

Her eyes widen when the girl raised the broken pillow again, ready to deliver another blow.

"Oh, no you don't!" Taking her tiara she flung it at her enemy.

She made a slight pump of her fist in triumph when she hit the target, vanquishing it into golden dust.

Retrieving her tiara, she rushed to her partner's aid.

"That was easy." She commented, pulling out the feathers that he'd missed or couldn't reach.

"A little too easy." His eyes were hidden behind his mask so Serena couldn't see his surprise, though the sudden stiffness of his body told her that the fight was too easy.

Turning she saw the gold dust morph once again back into the little girl. This time the sleepy eyed child was wide awake; her gray eyes now burned an emerald green, her thin lips curled revealing sharp canines.

"See, I told you vampires would start popping up!"

"This is no time for jokes!" He lectured as the small girl replaced the pillow with a teddy bear that looked just as fierce as she did. The two glowed as one, transforming into one.

A ferocious beast shaped like a grizzly bear with wings like a hawks glared at them with devilish green eyes. His teeth were long and curved; drooled dripped, pooling at its feet.

Its roar vibrated through the area, shaking everything in its path. Roaring once more, buildings started to collapse and crumble and fell around them.

Tuxedo Mask draped his cape around his princess, shielding her and himself away from the falling debris.

"One the count of three, we jump and run." He whispered to her. Moving further away from the crumbling pieces of buildings, he was trying to figure out how they were going to defeat the monster with just the two of them.

It pressed down on the pads of its paws, its claws scraped against the street. The couple watched as the beast continued to scarp his paws on the ground as if revving up its engines.

"Separate and meet in the park." He nodded at the blonde's command.

"One… two…" The beast charged at them, ripping up the pavement in the process. They both waited until he was practically on top of them before they made their move.

"Three!" the said together. Pushing away from each other, they jumped out the way of the destructive animal.

As Tuxedo Mask predicted, he knew that it would only chase on of them, though he wasn't ready for it to be so agile. He moved out the way but not before the huge paw came crashing down, ripping his cape clean off.

Sailor Moon realized that she wasn't being followed. Skidding to a halt she found that her comrade was struggling to get away.

She heard a shrilling scream but didn't realize it came from her. Though the first paw missed him, the other didn't. Swiping out, the other, batted him like a fly. Tuxedo Mask slammed against the pile of rubble. He screamed in pain when another pressed against his chest, attempting to crush him.

Without hesitation, Sailor Moon ran back, this time using her Crescent Moon Wand, the beast dissolved once again into dust.

"Why didn't you run?" her prince exasperated, finding it hard to breath. He felt like his whole body had been flattened.

"I could never leave you." she did her best to pick him up. He yelled in pain as gravity started to pull on his broken form.

"Damn it." He cursed; more so because the golden dust was moving once again, taking shape into the grizzly.

"Let's move." He said, mustering up the strength not to cry out as they fled. They struggled to the park, but they made it. Setting her injured partner behind the shrubs, she took her place by his side.

"This isn't the best hiding place. We'll be spotted before long." His breathing was labored as his chest cavity moved up and down. They heard in the distance the roaring cries, more buildings crumbling to dust; the beast was looking for its prey that had gotten away.

"Why did you choose here?" The future queen shrugged her shoulders.

"I heard music coming from here."

"What music?"

"These things aren't for decoration." She smiled, tapping her nails against the red orbs that adorned her buns. "They can pick up sounds that are far away."

Tuxedo Mask smirked. "I didn't know that."

"I figured that out when Luna was training me. Anyways, I heard music just before the little girl appeared and it's a lot louder now that were in the park."

"What does that mean?"

"I remember Raye telling me that sometimes demons would separate their hearts from their bodies and hide them far away. They body can live on forever and never die because it had no heart. The only way to kill the demon is to kill the heart."

"So what are you saying? That the heart is here in this park?"

"Yes."

"Ok. So what's in here that makes music?"

"I don't think that its heart is apart of the park but it's hidden here. And I'm going to go look for it."

"I'm coming with you."

"No." Sailor Moon stopped him from moving. His body stiffened, exploding in pain. "You stay here. You're too injured."

"I'm not going to let you go out there alone." He hissed. They became silent when the grizzly appeared, walking around the area.

"You'll just slow me down and then we'll both be finished."

"You can't use the Wand anymore. You've drained too much energy."

"Then I won't use it." She whispered. "Besides I think I know where it is now." She noticed that the bear was circling around the slide shaped like a rubber duck.

"It has to be inside there."

"Ok, great. But how are you going to get in there?"

"I'll figure it out."

"Serena." He used her real name, which was rare when they were transformed. He grabbed a hold of her arm, which was a hard task on its own. She smiled, feeling his concern. Leaning over, she shared a kiss; another thing that they didn't do on the battlefield.

"I'll be fine." She looked into his shielded eyes. "Trust me." She felt him hold on a second longer before easing his grip.

Nodding, she snuck through the trees going in the opposite direction. She made sure that she was far away from her partner before putting her plan into action.

Throwing her tiara was a dead giveaway of her position but that's what she needed. The grizzly jumped when she announced her attack dodging the small accessory.

She stood her ground, hoping that her aim was still as good as before. The bear prepared to charge at her. Letting loose a thunderous roar, the earth shook beneath her.

Getting her cue, Sailor Moon ran towards the slide.

Realizing where the human was going, the bear began to charge, anticipating to cut her off short of her destination. The bear leaped through the air encasing a shadow over its prey.

Sailor Moon zigzagged just in time, escaping the weight of the beast as it came crashing down to earth, a large tree weighing down on its back; the same one her tiara had cut before their cat and mouse game began.

Pleased with the strategic move, the blonde climbed up the ladder of the ten foot tall duck. The melody of the music getting louder and louder until it was blasting in her eardrums.

Jumping on top of the duck's head, she found what she was looking for: the black pupil of the duck's left eye. That's where the sound of the music was coming from.

Reaching down she grabbed it, trying to yank it out. The bear roaring in pain proved to her that she was right.

She pulled at it again but soon realized that it wasn't going to budge. She began to panic, not because she couldn't get the heart out; the beast had freed itself from her trap and was now stalking over to her.

It walked closer to her before stopping, rearing back on its hind legs. It was going to pounce on her and there was no where for her to run.

She only had one choice. She took out her wand the second the bear lunged at her. Using every bead of strength she had left, she swung her weapon down like a hammer, shattering the heart just as the bear's claws were about to tear into her.

The music had stopped; the beast roared in sorrow and pain. A bright blue light shined in her eyes and engulfed her.

Serena woke up. Her breathing was heavy, her palms were sweating. She looked down at herself, realizing that she was in her pajamas.

She was back in her room.

"Serena?" she held her breath when she heard the prim and proper voice call her name.

"Luna!" she cried, snatching the black feline from the bed, she held on for dear life. "You're awake, you're awake!"

"Oh don't be silly Serena." Luna pushed back, trying to get some air. "Of course I'm awake. It's morning isn't it?"

"Morning?" puzzled, Serena looked at her clock. It read 7:58. It was the same time when she had woken up to visit Darien.

"The day started over?"

"What are you talking about?" Ignoring her guide, Serena scrambled for her cell phone, dialing the programmed number.

"Darien!"

"Serena. Do you remember what happened this morning?"

"Yes, everything. Are you alright?" She panicked remembering the ordeal that they went through.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not hurt at all. It seems like nothing has changed…as if…"

"The day started over." They echoed each other. She shook her head. None of this was making any sense. "I'm calling the girls. They'll be pissed but this is an emergency, Get dress and meet us a Raye's at soon as possible."

They hung up; the girl shuffled out of bed.

"I'll explain everything on the way." She addressed the perplexed cat. "Go and wake up Rini and tell her to get dress."

The urgency in her voice had Luna acting fast. Once the cat did what she was told, the girl started to call the others.

A/n: you know...your stories will seem a lot bigger than what they actually are when you have a mountain of papers staring at you and your handwriting has changed from day to day so on some pages it's big and sloppy but then on others is big and you can read it, but then you have to look at other pages and ask yourself "WTF did you write!" So overwhelming...I'm NOT happy!

Please Review...at least that will give me motivation and my torment will not be in vain... ... ...