Alright, I know that chapter was short. But that's exactly where I wanted to leave it. I'm really happy with that chapter. I think you pick up on just how upset everyone is with the length of the search and the hopelessness of it all. That was really important to me.
As for how Mamoru got involved in everything, I plan on explaining it in later chapters. Just remember that he's doing this because of his dreams.
Worth Dying For
By: Meghan McLaws
The sleepy town of Homewood, Illinois was just waking as the sun peaked over the bare, snow covered trees. Few cars were on the road and even fewer shops were opening their doors. The snow plows weren't even out yet, since the lake effect snowfall hadn't stopped in almost 2 days. Most of the kids hadn't gone back to school from the weekend and the snow day that they were all about to enjoy was still unknown to those in their beds.
Serena Gillette, however, was well aware of that fact. She'd woken up early to finish a paper she still had 3 pages to write, and as she listened to the radio, she discovered her fate and promptly went back to sleep.
A few hours later, Serena woke up once more, the sun much higher in the sky then it had been earlier. She stretched languidly, finally pushing back her sheets to pad across the cold, wood floors of her room to grab the fluffy pink slippers and bright purple robe before venturing out of her room and down into the kitchen. The sweet smells of cinnamon rolls and coffee filled her with joy. She loved snow days.
Most of the time.
Although it meant that she didn't have any school, it also meant that neither did her 3 siblings.
So the peaceful morning of coffee and pancakes turned into helping feed the younger 2, while her mother dished out the food and cleaned as she went. Their father was already out, working a 24 hour shift at the fire department as Lieutenant. He was home more often than not, but the officer couldn't get into the station, and lucky for them, Patrick Gillette lived within walking distance.
Overtime was nice, but having the extra hand around was nicer, in Serena's opinion.
Once they were fed, her mother put them in front of the TV, leaving Serena and her mother the chance to enjoy a quiet moment. Her mother had already put together her a plate of pancakes, bacon, and a rolls or two, while Serena poured herself an enormous cup of coffee, adding what seemed to be an unhealthy amount of cream and Splenda. The sat down on the bar, ignoring the half cleaned table.
"The car is under a foot and a half of snow, so we won't be able to take them to day care. And unless the snow subsides, you won't be able to go to gymnastics tonight. And your Forensics coach called and said that they were pushing back the scrimmage to Friday." Her mother said.
"So it's just you, me and Tessa today?"
"Yup, with a house full of rug rats. We'll order pizza for lunch. You've got that paper to finish. And you can work on those applications for college."
Serena rolled her eyes, "Yippee. The way I want to spend a perfectly good snow day."
Laura laughed, "I know you'd rather be spending all day online or whatever, but you don't have much of a choice. That paper will be due when school's back in session. But the news said there's a possibility of snow all week. Until it stops, the plows won't go out. "
"Meh. I've got a competition on Thursday. It's the big one, and I need to go to state on this."
"I'll call God, see if he can push the snow back." Laura said, grabbing another pancake for her plate. "In the mean time, you'll have to deal with the setbacks."
Serena sat in silence for a moment, polishing off her plate before getting up and putting it into the sink. "Let me know if God answers. I have a few others things to ask him." She said, placing a kiss on her mother's cheek before bounding up the stairs.
Her room was messy, but not so bad that she couldn't maneuver her way to her desk. She plopped herself down on her squishy chair, opening up her laptop to find already 2 new emails since she had checked it before going back to bed this morning. One was from her Forensics coach, letting her know what her mother had already told her. The other was from her best friend, Molly, telling her that she was bringing a tray of cookies over from her mom. It meant that she would at least get a short interlude from the homework and children watching.
She sent Molly a short reply, and then spent a half hour cleaning up her room. It's not that she didn't love her family. She just felt out of place more often than not. It was only because she was adopted.
Her birth mom had been 15 when she had Serena, and it wasn't that she didn't want her daughter. She was too young to try and care for a little girl. So the Gillettes adopted the little girl, unable to have one of their own. But a year later, they had Tessa, followed by Sean 7 years later and Paul 6 months ago. With the houseful of kids that didn't share her blood, sometimes it was easier to feel like she didn't belong.
Now, in her last semester at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, she was anxious to get out and see more of the world. She'd applied to California State, NYU, Florida State and a few others that were in Illinois. As much as she loved her large family, she'd never spent more than a week outside of the state that she'd grown up in. She wanted to say that she'd been to Wall Street or walked on the beach in California. The small town life wasn't for her.
She finished cleaning, plopping back down into her computer chair and opened up the essay she still needed to finish. She'd brought her coffee up with her, and she sipped the warm drink as she continued writing her essay on the economy. She hated her Economics class, but her teacher was pretty lineate with the essays and assignments. As long as they had seemed to get the main point of the assignment, she marked their scores fairly high.
She was able to finish the last two pages fairly quickly, moving onto a more amusing assignment for photo. She'd already taken the pictures required for the children's book they each had to write. With the help of a few of her friends, they had set up a photo shoot for the story Moon Princess that she'd had written over 3 class periods. She donned her friend in a wig, dressing both her male and female leads into costumes, and in a little over 2 hours, they taken all the pictures she had needed. Now she was working on putting the pictures with each page into the soft bound scrapbook.
Her inspiration came from her dreams, the ones that haunted her on a nightly basis. She saw the downfall of an ancient kingdom, a great love that she felt to the core. Most mornings, she'd wake up in tears, writing down each dream before she forgot them in the hustle and bustle of the day. They started 3 years ago, short, little glimpses of this world that she'd woven in her head. At first, she was taken on a tour of a grand palace, white stone walls, and breezy windows. Months afterwards, she was introduced to faces, then names. And then all of the sudden, there was him. And he consumed her thoughts in almost any moment of any day.
It made dating hard, that was for sure. She couldn't help and compare the guys she went on dates with to this mysterious man she'd woven herself so completely around. She hated dating anyway, and it was just easier to stay single then to let any one of the guys she'd gone to school with in her whole life. It was too difficult to try and separate the real from the fantasy. So she gave up on it, knowing the eventually she would be able to forget about the man that fills her dreams. One day, she would grow up and never thing about the dreams, or the book. But for now, she thrived in the world she'd created.
There was no abandoning it now.
She spent the next hour tightly woven into her world, decorating and pasting the pictures and words to the pages. Sure, she had to lighten up the reality of her dreams, but the story itself was perfect. She didn't need to change the romance she felt existed between the two people in her dreams.
She worked through the morning, and almost missed lunch, but Tessa wouldn't let her miss a meal. Her younger sister pounded on her door, causing the blonde's head to shoot up. "Whoa, didn't mean to scare you there."
Serena smiled up at the brunette, "Just working on that project for Mrs. Kline's class. I'm almost done."
Tessa smiled, "You'll have to let me read it. Mine's nowhere near done." Serena laughed, knowing her sister was a little bit of a procrastinator. The project was due at the end of the week, and Tess wouldn't be starting on hers until the night before.
The two 'sisters' were as opposite in looks as they were in personalities. Serena had long blonde hair going almost to her mid back. Her bright blue eyes were sometimes hidden besides the glasses she needed to see distances. She was short, a little above 5 feet tall. Tessa, on the other hand, had dark, exotic green eyes and a short brunette pixie bob. She was 5'10" and an absolute knock out. Both girls were popular and into activities in school. Tessa did Cheer and student council, while Serena focused on Orchestra and Forensics. They were both good students, but Tessa wanted to stay in Illinois for college with all of her friends. Serena refused to be stuck in the hum-drum life of a house wife.
It's not that she didn't respect house wives; it just wasn't what she wanted. She couldn't picture herself making a home and popping out babies. She wanted adventure, to experience a world she heard about on the news. She wanted to make history, not be lost in it.
Closing her story book, Serena got up from the bed and followed Tessa down stairs. The 3 pizza boxes were spread on the counters, and Serena grabbed two slices of cheese pizza and a diet coke. The ranch was already on the table, and Serena put her plate down in her seat to help her mother get the other kids pizzas cut into smaller pieces for them to be able to eat.
Lunch was a quick, loud affair that Serena enjoyed whole heartedly. She might not always know where she belonged in the family, but she did know that she was a part of it. She and her sister helped clean the kitchen while the others were put down for naps and set up with a movie. The girls laughed and made more of a mess before they got it all cleaned up.
Serena might not have wanted this for herself, but she couldn't help but love every minute of it.
"So why am I stuck in New York when Kun gets to go to Houston?"
"Because, Neph, I'm the leader. And you were in charge of the US. You know the area best. You can handle the population better. And you can use the stars to work your way through the population better." Kunzite said, "I think you can handle the 9 million people a little better then Zoi can."
"Hey." Zoisite said, crossing his arms, "I'm a little offended by that."
"You're not exactly a 'people person'." Jadeite said, laughing at him. "You do better with computers then people. Plus, you can use commercials again; see if we can smoke her out that way."
"We do understand that New York is under like, 4 feet of snow, right?"
"Yes," Kunzite said, rolling his eyes, "So is Chicago. You and Jade can complain about how cold you are to each other."
"While you and Zoi can relax in the sun." Nephrite said bitterly, flipping through the channels on the TV in their small hotel room.
"Any attacks?" Kunzite asked, trying to watch as the channels changed.
Zoisite flipped open his computer, shaking his head, "Not that I see. She still thinks that we're on her side."
Kunzite nodded, "So there's time. We've all got planes to catch. I'll report into Beryl, buying us some more time. Report in only to me. Zoi has your communicators, use only those. We have no way of knowing exactly what Beryl is keeping an eye on. And hopefully, she still believes we're on her side. As long as we keep it that way, we'll be able to find Serenity and protect her. At least until we can get the senshi to her." He pulled out envelopes, handing each one of them their new identities. "You each know where you're going. Zoisite, you're going to Los Angeles. Work the news papers, internet. Whatever you can to bring her out. Nephrite, you'll go to New York. Try and use your powers for good, stay out of the clubs. Most likely, she's still in high school. Try and stick to them. Jadeite, same goes for you in Chicago. I'll do the same in Phoenix. We report in as soon as we have anything at all. And we provide as many false leads to Beryl as we can. Once we're sure we've got Serenity, we'll make contact with the Senshi."
"I'd rather not face them for a while." Jadeite said, thinking about the rage that Mars had shown when they were on their side years ago. He cringed, remembering vividly the attacks that the senshi of fire after one of Serenity's secret visits. He also remembered the passion she held in their briefest moments.
"We've got a lot to make up for. The only way we're going to do that is by protecting Serenity from Beryl for as long as possible." Kunzite said, trying to believe his own words. "Once we can find her, we'll be able to get the senshi to her. And then we grovel." He said, thinking of the pain that had showed on Venus' face when they first betrayed their loves. He had no idea how the senshi of love would feel once they remembered exactly why there was so much animosity between the Shitennou and Senshi.
"Once again, you and Zoi have it easy. Remember Jupiter? She fried me even before she realized that she was helplessly in love with me." Nephrite said, tossing the remote onto the only empty seat in the room.
Kunzite sighed, "Let's deal with the girls once we've got Serenity under their protection. We'll focus on them later. Right now, Serenity is our main priority. Let's not lose sight of that."
