Chapter 4: Trapped
She didn't like it. Not one bit. Darien was gone, her communicator wasn't working, and he kept watch on her like a hawk. She wasn't sure whether to be scared of what he might do or not, but this crush he had gained on her wasn't something that she could return. She couldn't get back on her own, but she didn't need to fight him…at least yet.
"Why such cold stares Serena?" He asked with kind concern in his voice.
"I want to go home Fiore. Don't you get it, how people can be more than one person's friend?" She pleaded lightly.
"But don't you get it Serena. If you are someone else's friend, you are being with them instead of me!"
Serena watched him close in distance between them. Didn't he get it? That was the same mistake he made last time when kidnapping Darien! She felt her hand reach for her broach, when he closed in just enough to hit her hand, causing the broach to go flying into a small pink bush of roses a way away. Her eyes widened, and looked from her hand to Fiore.
"I don't want to fight Serena. I just want my rose." He pulled her in and kissed her.
She felt her eyes squint, and she felt more lonely and powerless then before. She felt her eyes water. Darien wasn't here. Neither Darien nor the scouts could come to save her. It was her fault. Her fault for trusting Fiore, and her fault for letting Darien go again.
When he felt no kiss back he stopped and pulled away. He looked at her, her eyes wet with a single tear. He waited for her to say something.
"Darien…"
Was that really it? All she could think about was Darien? He felt his chest burn, like something inside him was growing, a burning power that made him angry at the thought.
"You'll learn whose really there for you Serena. I bet your sailor friends don't even know where you are, and I bet Darien won't come to save you either, since he left you alone. You're just as abandoned as me."
Before she could run for her broach, in a mist of tears, a flower moved trapping her ankle in a grasp, making her leashed to the ground. She curled her hands in the dirt ground, angry with herself, and desperate for someone to come to her rescue.
"Yes Darien, we think he might be back and the Xenian blossom may still be seeded inside him." Rei said talking on the phone, as the other scouts, now Amara and Michelle as well listened silently in the background.
"She isn't anywhere. We had Amara and Michelle check your apartment in case she went there, but she wasn't there either. Ami is trying to home in on her, and check the orbit of the earth for another unexplained planet."
"We'll contact you if we find anything. Darien, don't worry too much. I'm sure Serena is okay."
"Okay…we'll find her Darien. Bye."
She hung up the phone.
"So?" Mina asked.
"He's pretty distraught about it. I feel bad for him. He can't even finish his education without having to worry about Serena."
"Did you find anything yet Ami?" Leta asked.
"I may have. There is a small unidentified object in the sky. Rei do you have a telescope?" Ami said standing outside the porch of the temple building Rei lived in.
"Yea I'll get Chad to get it out. I'm sure we have one with the zodiac and star maps."
Rei left to find Chad.
"So you're telling me this Fiore guy, had it out for Darien, and is now going after Serena?" Amara said looking up at the sky beside Ami.
"That's what we're suspecting." Artemis pounced through the door, and onto the porch with them.
"I hope she's okay." Michelle said joining the group, standing closely to Amara.
"She fought Galaxia on her own, give her that much credit." Luna said.
"She'll have to make it until we find her. Then we'll give that blossom a good beating, and get rid of the trouble maker once and for all." Leta added.
"And we have Amara and Michelle this time, so we'll have enough people to teleport anyway." Mina added.
"Here Ami." Rei said holding out a telescope.
Ami stood it out into the darkness, a foot or two in front of the others, and searched the skies. "According to my calculations, the unknown planetary object should be right here." She said, and noticed an oddly colored dot in the sky, no bigger than the end of a pin, but with enough power on the telescope, it was clearly not the same color, nor had the same illumination as the stars.
"Guess that means I should go call Darien back." Rei said.
"Ah, we don't need Tuxedo Mask." Mina said.
"But he should know…" Rei said. She knew Darien, and always felt close to him having dated him for a short period of time before Serena. Plus if Serena was in danger, he would want to know. She left for the room.
"The nights still young. Do we strike tonight?" Michelle asked.
"We should wait for Darien's response." Leta said thinking. "If I was him, I would want to be included in Serena's rescue, if he can. He's Serena's future husband, we should give him that much."
"But that could mean Serena's in danger for longer!" Amara protested.
"She's strong. She's our future moon princess." Artemis reassured.
"Serena, hold out for a little while longer." Luna prayed to the stary sky, as the girls went inside to retire for the night.
