"I was just wondering, how do you stand this

"I was just wondering, how do you stand this?"

"Oh, it's all right. After awhile, you can even get use to it. I mean, your mind just becomes numb to it and it's like you're dead…but you're alive…"

Stormy Skies

Chapter 4

Serena ran into an alleyway, breathing heavily from her flight. She crouched low, holding her knees against her chest tightly. Shame racked her entire body as her conversation and outburst with Rini replayed itself over and over again within her mind. 'I'm such an idiot. She didn't do anything. Why'd I blow up on her? For a guy I hardly know, a guy I'll never see again? Why'd I even bring him home? I should've took him to the hospital, took him to a real doctor. Amy's O.K. but she's just practicing.'

Her thoughts were cut off as footsteps sounded, coming closer to her. Panic overtook Serena and she clamped a hand over her mouth. 'Not Ray! I can't face her like this!' Serena tried to cover her breathing, taking shallow breaths and the feeling of panic she felt grew inside.

Ray could've sworn she saw Serena down here. She glanced down the street real quick and, seeing no one, started moving on. 'What a meatball head,' she thought grimly. 'What's wrong with her? Rini didn't do anything.' The tall black-hair teen brushed off a few strands of hair out of her face and ignored the worry she felt gnawing at her heart.

A red car drew up beside her. Rolling down his windows, Darien took off his shades and casually asked "Hey Ray, what's up?"

"'What's up?' You mean you don't know?!?" Ray screamed in reply. Stepping up to the window, she yanked the door open and sat down. Seeing Darien's confused expression, she glared at him and commanded "Drive. I'll tell you on the way."

"Drive? Where?"

"Anywhere! Just go."

"Whatever." Darien stepped on the gas and the two of them accelerated down the street and out of sight. After they'd gone a bit, he dared to ask "So what do you mean, what don't I know that's so important?"

Ray squeezed her eyes tight. "Serena ran away," she whispered, the tears she tried to suppress leaking into her voice. Then she started to cry.

*****

Serena breathed out heavily, her panic of being caught vanishing. Still, she couldn't escape the burning sensation of shame that threatened to overcome her.

Running across the street, Serena spotted the arcade. "Andrew," she whispered. "You'll help me." She began to go in when she heard a familiar voice. "Lita! No, I can't let you find me. Not like this." She turned around and ran the other way towards the park. 'The park is huge. They'll never find me there!'

Inside the arcade, Lita sighed in frustration. "So, you haven't seen her? Not at all?" she asked, a sliver of annoyance, fear and worry all together lining her voice. Andrew shook his head, confused at why Lita was so worried.

Turning to his assistance, he replied "No, we haven't seen her all day. Isn't that right, Mark?"

Mark shook his head, his long purplish hair swinging. "No, I haven't seen her at all today. And I usually do. Serena's almost always here. I wasn't really worried, you know. Because she isn't always here."

Lita looked towards the glass doors, apprehension growing with every moment. She'd though she had seen long blonde hair a moment before but it was gone. 'Probably just another citizen.' She turned back to the two. "Yea, well, thanks. And if any of you see her, will you call this number?" She quickly gave each a slip of paper with Ray's home phone number written on it. "Oh, and don't let her leave until one of us get here, all right?"

Each took the paper, if somewhat hesitantly. Andrew reached up and scratched the back of his head. "All right. But what's going on? Is Serena all right?"

"Yea, but we've got to tell her something right away!" Lita lied, already outside. She waved at them and began running to Molly's house.

"Weird." Mark said as he turned and continued sweeping the floor.

"I dunno," Andrew remarked. He continued watching Lita until she was out of sight. "I think they're hiding something. I bet Serena's run away or something."

Mark stopped sweeping and looked up at Andrew. "Why do you think that?"

Andrew shrugged. "Just a feeling, O.K. I mean, if they had to tell her something, why would they involve us guys? And why was Lita so upset? She tried to hide it but I could tell."

Mark turned away. "Yea, I got that feeling too. Do you think we should do something?"

Andrew shook his head and began to walk away. "No 'cause I think I just saw Serena a minute ago."

Mark nearly fell over. "What! And you didn't say anything?!"

"That's why I don't think we should look for her. Because she must've saw Lita here and if she's hiding from them, she won't trust us. Let's just get back to work, O.K.?"

"Whatever."

*****

Sephiroth continued to walk through the city, picking up on the different customs and languages as he traveled. He'd even heard about this mysterious 'Sailor Moon,' the city's protector. He'd heard about it from a tiny child that was babbling about her and the rest of the 'Sailor Scout.' He'd been passing by a bus stop as a tired female was herding a mass of young, eccentric children. For a moment, he'd thought they had been given a dose of Hyper.

A little chubby girl had wandered away from the rest and had begun tugging on his trench coat. "Hi," she said, ignoring the female's screams to get into the bus. "My name's Carrie. What's yours?"

Sephiroth had tried to turn away but the annoying girl continued grabbing onto him. "Have you seen Sailor Moon?"

Agitated, Sephiroth played along with her, glaring at the girl's female in an attempt to get the woman's attention. "Who?"

Carrie's eyes opened wide. "You mean you don't know?" she asked in reverent tones. She grabbed her backpack and shoved it in front of him. Pointing to a figure on the backpack, she whispered, "That's Sailor Moon. Me and my whole class saw her in person. Really!"

At that moment the female came rushing up and grabbed Carrie's arm, dragging her away with an apology to Sephiroth. But he had seen the image before and before long knew all about the so-called 'Defenders of Truth and Justice.' He'd heard many strange things about the teen-aged female who called herself Sailor Moon. A girl named Molly claimed to have seen all of the Sailor Scouts. Some said there were nine, others claimed there were only five. Within an hour, Sephiroth had seen pictures of at least six Scouts and the images were stuck in his mind.

But most of the civilians he'd asked agreed that there were four Scouts, Sailor Moon and a smaller Sailor Mini-Moon. They were all about 17, or so the people said. The news that attracted most of his attention was the attacks used by these women. Flashbacks of times when he'd used materia that brought about the same results stuck with him and he found himself impatient to meet them.

When he'd been presented with several pictures of the 'Inner' Scouts, as a certain man called them, they were all vaguely familiar, reminding him of the girls who'd first found him.

'But they are far too young-'

'The ninja, Yuffie, wasn't much older.' The thought remained with him as Sephiroth entered a tall building and used the elevator to reach the top floor.

He shook is head. Whoever they were, he'd find out soon enough. An evil smile spread across his face as he watched from the tower he'd entered. 'These Scouts defend this city, showing themselves only whenever danger is near.' He clutched his fist, the tattoo on his right hand burning as it always did. 'I just have to present them with enough danger.'

Sephiroth grabbed his sword's hilt, unsheathing it, and faced the heart of the city. Practicing some basic moves, Sephiroth watched as the sun began to fall and pointed his sword at it. "Soon, we shall see if these protectors of the weak are good enough to protect this planet,' he promised. Destructive laughter erupted from his mouth and Sephiroth watched as the sky became red with the setting soon, taking the colors as a promise of what was to come.

*****

Millions of years and seconds away, Sailor Pluto gasped as reality poured into her senses. The overwhelming sense of doom and death fell over her like a mountain river, destructively powerful yet all too clear. She staggered to her feet and grabbed the long, key-like staff of time.

"I must…warn…the other," she gasped out in pained breaths and passed out, falling to the floor.

*****

"Cloud? How exactly will we get to where Sephiroth is?" Yuffie groaned as the group joined hands. All were standing in Cosmos Canyon around the great flame. "Because I really can't see how holding hands will get us anywhere."

Cloud shrugged helplessly. "Don't ask me for any details. All I know is that Nanaki told me about this teleportation thing. He's the brains of this operation."

Nanaki smiled. "Thank you Cloud for putting it so delicately." The huge cat looked at everyone in turn. "When I first discovered that Sephiroth was not as dead as we first believed and that he was also off of the planet, I was reminded of a technique the Elders wrote about years ago. At the time I read it, the matter made little sense to me. But now…"

"O.k. we get the point," Cid broke in, stuffing out his recently smoked cigarette. He tossed to the floor. Several people glared at him. "So what exactly do we have to do to get to where that bastard is?"

"We must all concentrate on Sephiroth, nothing else. And if all of us combined have the necessary spirit power, we shall be teleported to that which we seek. Of course," Nanaki added cynically, "in the case that we do not have enough power, we will end up at any place on the planet. Remember to completely concentrate on Sephiroth."

Tifa felt Clouds hand tighten around hers and looked up to see his face coated in pain and hate. 'Nanaki, you didn't have to remind us.' Nearly everyone else in the group had the same expression, thinking of what had been taken away.

"Lucrecia," Vincent whispered, his voice no louder than a breeze.

Cid's brows crunched up over the memory of his lost and forgotten dreams.

Yuffie felt the shame and anger her country's defeat at Sephiroth's hands all over again.

Barret saw in his mind's eye his friend, Dyne, and was reminded of what could have happened to Marlene, what did happen to Jessie, Biggs and Wedge…what almost happened to the planet.

Tifa could feel the agony of her father's death ripping through her bones.

Nanaki felt nothing but the barren lonliness of being so alone without another. 'The last of my kind.'

Cloud saw nothing but the memory of Aries…as Sephiroth's sword ripped through her being. His town and mission was forgotten as he saw nothing but her eyes as she smiled one last time…

The fire flared and in a moment, the group was gone.

*****