Chapter 4

Darien spit out the beer in his mouth. "What?!"

"See," Serena said, burying her face in her hands. "I knew you wouldn't believe me." And, for the first time in what felt like years, but was in actuality a week, Serena cried. She was then surprised by the gentle but firm arm that flung itself across her shoulder.

"Don't cry, Meatball," Darien said to her ear, his beer breath hitting her nostrils. "Just tell me about the dream. Am I the only person you've told?"

"Yes," Serena said, lifting her head up and wiping her face. "Because everyone will think I'm crazy."

"I don't think you're crazy," Darien said, pulling away slightly but leaving his arm in place. "Tell me."

"It's simple and short. I'm in a white dress, I'm down on my knees. And I reach for a sword and then I take it… And then I feel death. The dream is real. As real as real life. I die every time, and I feel it. I don't know how to describe it … It's like my soul is being lifted out of my body? That's the easiest explanation, but it's still not right." Serena clutched at her throat. "I feel my last breath." Serena reached for the beer bottle next to her, but it was empty, and she threw it down with disgust.

"Here, I'll get you another one," Darien said and he leaned over to grab a bottle out of the crate. It was almost empty now, Serena realized. Serena started drinking her beer, and she had to admit, Darien's – out of everyone's! – presence was making her feel better. She leaned into his arm and closed her eyes.

"Can I ask you what might be a stupid question?" Darien said softly.

Serena felt the anger inside of her again, but didn't open her eyes. "What, like if I tripped over my hair in my dream?"

"No, I wouldn't do that."

Serena glimpsed at Darien and he was looking at her very seriously. "Okay then," she said. "Ask away."

"Well," Darien extracted himself from Serena and began to pace along the patio, "you said that your dream is prophetic, which is an interesting word coming from you. How do you know that it's prophetic, exactly?"

Serena blinked. "Because I'm not dead yet…?"

Darien laughed sardonically. "I meant, is there some kind of … magic? Like, that you could feel?"

Darien stared at her intently. All she could do was nod.

"That's what I thought. I guess it's my turn now, huh?" He turned away from her and rested his arms on the railing. "For the past eleven years, I have had the same dream, every night. It's a princess, whose face I can't see, begging me to help her. 'Please, Darien.' I know it's real. I can feel it. She's in danger, and she's desperate. When I was younger, I spoke to shrinks who thought the princess was just a subconscious thing involving my parents, which made sense on paper, but not so much in my gut."

Darien took a drink of the beer he carried. She sipped at her beer, too, as her thoughts consumed her. He's talking about the princess. But how can this be? Unless it's a different one? Darien cleared his throat and continued, "As I got older, I came to realize that there was something about me, and that I could be destined to save a princess. But I don't know how, and she just seems to be getting worse. I feel like she will die if I don't do something, but I don't know what that something is, and it eats at me in the most painful way."

Darien turned to face Serena and gave a small smile. "Do you think I'm crazy?"

"Of course – hiccup – Of course I don't think you're crazy. I told you about my dream and you told me about yours. And you know your princess is just as real as my death is."

"Yes, the princess is real. I just wish I could find her." Darien went to help Serena stand up and she wobbled a bit, knocking over the beer bottles next to her feet.

"Oh, shit," she said.

"It's okay, Serena, I've got you," Darien said, and then her pushed inside, over to the modern couch. He then put a blanket across her. Serena felt her eyelids starting to droop. "I thought I told you that I can't sleep?"

Darien got down on his knees on the carpet in front of her and smiled. "I know. You end up killing yourself. How about we do this, then? I'll get you some water and you sleep for a bit, and I'll see how long it takes you to wake up from the nightmare. And then after that, I'll wake you up before it happens. I don't mind waking you up every thirty minutes, Meatball Head, because your body does need some form of sleep."

Serena wasn't sure if it was the best plan, but it was a plan that involved sleeping and her body cried out for it. She heard Darien in the kitchen running the faucet, but her eyes were already shutting …

She woke up what felt like instantaneously, sweating and breathing hard. Darien had been on the other side of the room, reading a book, but he dropped it and ran over to her, and, to Serena's complete and utter surprise, he gave her a firm hug. "It's all right, Meatball Head," he said. "You are not dead. You are here, in Darien Shields's apartment, which may be just as weird for you as the dream, I don't know."

Serena felt her shoulders relax, and then she laughed. "Being here is kind of weird."

Darien laughed, too. He handed her a glass of water that was on the table and said, "I don't know why you even came over here. I am totally plastered."

Serena drank her water and thought carefully over her next words, wondering if the decision bouncing around her brain was be wise. Finally, she said, "I could tell you were feeling the same thing I was. That's why I came. Plus, you've been maturing the last couple of years, I guess."

"Maturing?" Darien asked.

"Yeah, you're not as big of an ass."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should," Serena said. "How long was I asleep?"

"Around an hour and a half, so I'll probably wake you a little past an hour this time. I'm sorry that your dream is so hard to sleep through; mine just usually makes me feel depressed." Serena laid back down, and Darien straightened the cover and placed it around her. Serena refused to call it "being tucked in," because she did not want to live in the world where Darien did that.

"Darien," Serena said softly. "I need to tell you something."

"What?"

"You have to promise not to tell anyone because I came across this information in a bad way, and, uh, I could really get in trouble for it." Serena couldn't believe she was doing this.

"Okay," Darien seemed intrigued and his eyes were moving across her face.

"I don't know if you could use this information, or how, but I thought it might help you. With closure or something."

"Come on, now you're just teasing me," Darien tried to say with a small smile, but he could feel the tension.

"Darien …" Serena started. "I've heard that the Sailor Scouts are looking for a princess."

Darien looked shocked at the information before finally saying, "Wow."

Serena felt herself blush and she didn't know why. She had revealed Sailor Scout business to an outsider. She had betrayed their trust. Worst yet, she had compromised her identity; what if Darien could now look at her and see her similarities to Sailor Moon?

"I thought it might help you feel better, knowing there is a princess somewhere, and that people are looking for her. Please don't tell anyone I told you this, even the Sailor Scouts; I'll think they'll fry me!"

"Serena," Darien said calmly. "I won't tell anyone. Besides, when am I ever going to see the Sailor Scouts? Try to relax and go back to sleep. You need it. You really look terrible."

Serena chuckled, but felt more relaxed. "Thanks, Darien." And then she drifted off to sleep.

Amy was spending her lunch period doing something she often thought too dangerous to do at school. She peeked over her shoulder every few minutes as if someone could pop up from behind the bushes and actually surprise her, despite the fact that she was in a very secluded corner of the school, a place she liked to go when, in all honesty, she felt like she needed to be alone and recharge. Serena and Lita didn't understand things like that.

But, then again, there were a lot of things Amy didn't understand, either. She looked around again before glancing down at the small, blue computer hidden in her lunch case.

There was something that had been nagging at her, ever since Serena had begun to change. It wasn't that Serena had transformed into a monster overnight or anything; it had been little things that had tripped Amy up, and apparently the other girls, and even Tuxedo Mask, were noticing it, too. Serena did not skip to the arcade anymore. She cursed when she was angry now. That naïve light in her friend's eyes had started to dim, oh so suddenly, it seemed, over the course of a few days. And Sailor Moon … Sailor Moon was not the same.

Previously, Amy had only seen Serena show true anger while she was in the middle of an argument with Darien, and even that rage seemed rather superficial and childish. But this new temperament had started to rear its head more and more, and not just in battle. Serena seemed less inclined to talk to her friends, more closed-off, her facial expressions grimmer. They were small changes, but changes none-the-less. And Serena, according to Luna, was not sleeping. Amy wished that she could pinpoint the exact moment in time this change occurred, but she lacked the statistics.

The computer Luna had gifted the blue-haired scout was a very fascinating device. She still did not entirely understand its framework – it being a gift from whomever had deigned to create the Sailor Scouts in the first place, something Luna had been suspiciously mum on. The computer's most useful asset in battle was its ability to analyze power sources of the creatures it came across, though for some reason it never backed-up its scanned data.

But what Amy thought about, and often, was the readings the computer displayed on the physical characteristics of the scouts themselves. According to the computer, the girls and their Sailor identities were not connected at all. She had compared herself to Sailor Mercury many times, and aside from the physical traits – weight, height – the figures were completely different. There were the obvious fighting attribute differences, like agility and speed, but most peculiarly, the brain patterns were different. If she were to compare herself and her alter-ego as an outsider, she would say in simplest terms that they were entirely different people. But how could that be? she wondered. How does being a Sailor Soldier really work?

There were philosophical implications, of course, but Amy wasn't concerned with those. Instead, she was thinking about her friend's newfound attitude.

Serena had always been the most like herself in her transitioned form, but that night, when Amy had been scanning the dust that Serena ran her hands through, she noticed something strange that she wished she had written down. Because for the briefest flicker of time, before Serena moved out of the way of her visor, she had seen different parts of Serena's brain light up than she had ever seen before. She shouldn't have turned the visor off. She should have stopped and seriously stared at her friend. There were a lot of things she should've done, but the fact of the matter was, she hadn't. She contemplated approaching Serena directly, but that seemed rather premature – her friend likely did not know anything about what was going on. She was lashing out like she was just as confused as the rest of them, and Amy did not want to stress Serena out with scary words like "brain waves."

Amy decided to use her communicator to call Luna, because the cat was the one who would most likely know what to make of her findings, but there was no answer.

Lita was sitting alone at lunch. She had brought extra food for her friends, but Amy said she had to go to the library and Serena had been a no-show for school.

She inspected the courtyard for anyone else to eat with and saw Molly and Melvin chatting underneath a tree. She went over to them and smiled. "Hi, guys!" she said.

"Oh hey, Lita!" Molly said brightly. "No Serena today, huh?"

"Nope, I guess she's just playing hooky. Mind if I join you guys?"

"Nah, Lita, we don't mind!" Molly said, and Lita sat down. "We were actually just talking about Serena."

"Oh, really, what about?"

"How bizarre she's been lately!" Melvin said. "She's hardly ever at school, and when she is, she walks around looking like she wants to punch someone in the face. Imagine: Serena the Bully!"

"I'm really worried about her," Molly said softly, and Lita was reminded that Molly had been Serena's best friend since childhood, and they were forced to drift apart due to the Sailor Scouts, due to Molly's safety and Serena's new priorities. It kind of made her sad. She decided Molly should know about what they had talked about.

"We all worry about Serena," Lita said. "We tried to take out shopping and then when she got a … slight injury, we offered to take her to the hospital and she blew up at us, accusing us of babysitting her. We've heard she hasn't been sleeping and she's been eating way less than she used to. It's freaky."

"Oh, poor Serena!" Molly said with wide eyes. "What on earth could be wrong with her?"

"Sounds to me like depression. Of course, I'd need to check DSM-IV to be sure," Melvin said.

"You really think she's depressed, Melvin?" Molly sounded worried. "How do we fix that?"

"That's what I've been wondering myself," Lita said.

"Well if she is suffering from depression, an anti-depressant and a change in diet would be a good starting place for her," Melvin said.

"Like we could ever force Serena to take pills. She hates them. Only takes medicine when she has to," Lita said.

"And we could never get Serena to eat healthier in a million years!" Molly cried.

"Well, then, what makes Serena happiest? If we could give her all her favorite things, maybe that might cheer her up!"

"Well we already tried buying her the things she liked and being positive around her …" Lita said.

"When the last time she seemed like old Serena to you?" Melvin asked, looking back and forth between the girls.

Lita remembered. It was after Tuxedo Mask had paid her all that attention, and she had told the Scouts all about it.

"It was probably about a month ago," Molly said, interrupting Lita's thoughts. "It was the night she was at my house, and we were talking about celebrity crushes. She totally insisted that Tuxedo Mask was her number one, and then she listed all the things she liked about him.

"Of course, introducing her to Tuxedo Mask seems like a long shot," Molly finished sadly. "Not to mention that it's no good to love someone who could never love ya back."

The gears in Lita's heard were turning. "I don't think she loves Tuxedo Mask," Lita said slowly. "I think she just really wants to bone him."

Molly and Melvin both widened their eyes. "That is certainly, uh, not quite the Serena I know," Melvin said, scratching the back of his head and blushing.

Molly, however, shook her head. "Of course her crush is just about his looks, but doing anything about it is totally out of the question so it doesn't really matter. We need to figure out how to move from Tuxedo Mask to something realistic. Maybe we could set her up on a date! Ooh, Andrew from the arcade, she's always loved him!"

"You know there is this guy in my calculus class who…" Melvin was saying, but all Lita was thinking about was her revelation.

Get Tuxedo Mask and Serena to hook up, ease their sexual tension, ease his obsession with the Sailor Scouts, and, most of all, give Serena a really big mood boost.

Serena would be too embarrassed to talk about this directly, though. She wondered how Tuxedo Mask felt about it. She still wasn't sure of his intentions regarding any of the Sailor Scouts, and, for all she knew, he was sent to kill Serena. But she also knew he was attracted to Sailor Moon, so she could at least play off of that. Another more conniving part of Lita wondered if they could use Serena as a spy to figure the mysterious Tuxedo Mask out.

She heard the buzzing of her communicator and turned to it quickly. "Sorry guys," she said as she picked up her school bag. "I've gotta run. We should talk more about how to help Serena later, though."

And Lita left Molly and Melvin under the tree as she walked towards the school building, pulling out her communicator. It was Raye.

"What's going on?" Lita asked.

"I need you to come to the temple after school today for a meeting. Tell Amy." Raye looked stressed.

"Is anything wrong?"

"I'm not sure. Just make sure Serena doesn't come."

"Well that'll be easy; she's not in school today," Lita said.

"Oh," Raye said, and a worried look flittered across her face.

"You sure you can't debrief me now?"

"No, I'm sorry. I think this needs to be a meeting," Raye said firmly, and then the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. "Sounds like you need to get going. I'll see you later."

"Ditto, Raye," Lita said, and then the call disconnected.

At around 2 pm, Serena felt rested enough to get up. Darien had been dutiful in waking her up, although he was always doing something different when he did, like reorganizing his books, or sweeping the kitchen floor, or putting dishes in the dishwasher, and Serena had started to feel like a burden.

"I can't believe you did that for ten hours!" Serena said. She was sitting at the bar while Darien was in his kitchen fetching them sodas. "And you didn't feel tired?"

"I did," Darien said, handing her the can over the bar. "But I've only missed a couple of nights sleep. Sounds like for you it's been longer."

"It has," Serena said. "It's kind of crazy that you're so good at helping people. I didn't think that was your thing."

"You always think the worst of me. I want to help people. That's why I'm in medical school."

Serena snorted. "Your brain's big enough for that?"

"Oh no," Darien said dryly. "You're back to being your old self again. You're free to leave my house whenever you want, Meatball Head."

"Oh, come on, Trust Fund Boy. I'm teasing. I'm just surprised that real, live people are your speed. Oooh, maybe you should work in a morgue!" Serena didn't know where the "Trust Fund Boy" came from, and it seemed especially callous, and she wanted to take it back, apologize, but she didn't. Darien smirked at her.

"Maybe I'll be fortunate enough to be working there when you come in after offing yourself." Darien raised an eyebrow, like he was challenging her. But Serena didn't feel angry. In fact, she felt a sense of relief wash over. Someone else knew. She wasn't carrying this burden alone. She could make jokes about it, and it would be okay.

"For your information, Darien," she said, pointing her finger at him, "even if I were dead, I would wake up and refuse to let you touch me."

"Good to know," Darien laughed. They finished their sodas in silence, but it was companionable one.

"I guess I'd better be leaving now," Serena said, and she slid off the bar stool.

"At least let me drive you home; you look ridiculous," Darien said.

Serena looked down at her pajamas. She could see a few beer stains. As a matter of fact, she had been planning to transform into Sailor Moon, so she could sneak in her bedroom window, change into her school clothes and then somehow convince her parents that the reason she wasn't there when they woke up was because she and Amy had an early study session.

"It'll be okay, Darien; I'm used to getting strange looks, if you can believe it."

Darien laughed. "All right, then, have it your way. Don't come crawling back when you get lost."

She wasn't going to get lost. From the tops of buildings, she could make out familiar landmarks. "I'll be fine," she said. "Oh, also, what are you doing next Friday night?"

Darien looked up to the ceiling, like he was checking a calendar in his head. Finally he said, "I don't know; why?"

"Because it's my birthday party, and you're now officially invited! It'll be pretty lame; it's at my house, and my folks will be there so it'll probably just be people eating cake and watching movies, but you're invited!"

"I might drop by. What's your address?"

Serena smirked. "Just ask Andrew. It's on his invitation."

Darien walked over to her and looked down at her with amused eyes. "And I don't get an invitation?"

"Nope. I gave them all out a few weeks ago."

Darien rolled his eyes. "You're so annoying, Serena." And then he walked back into the kitchen. Serena could tell he wasn't mad, though.

"I'll see you later!" she called as she walked to the front door. "Thanks for everything! You're not a total monster!" And as she exited the apartment, she heard his chuckling.

Amy and Lita walked the way up to the temple and Raye was sitting seriously at the head of the table. Amy and Lita quickly took their respective seats.

"I tried to get a hold of Luna," Raye said quietly. "Has anyone heard from her?"

The other scouts shook their heads.

"Well … I suppose you're wondering why I called this meeting," Raye spoke slowly. "It relates to what I saw in the fire about Serena."

"Oh, no," Amy said with distress. "Was it something that horrible?"

"I don't know what it was. It was images of blood. Blood running off a ledge, blood running down an arm to an open palm, which might have been Serena's. I don't know. All I can say it that it was very disturbing, and I could feel the danger Serena was in. She is literally in peril, guys. And I don't know what to do about it."

This was the most frazzled Amy had ever seen Raye. "Well, there is a reason she has us, isn't there? To help her fight?"

"But we can't protect her from this! This was too powerful!" Raye said emphatically. "There was something about this danger that was wrong, too. Something I couldn't put my finger on."

"It's pretty strange that all of this is happening around the same time that there's supposed to be 'something big' in our midst," Lita said.

"That's a good point," Amy said. "I'm also intrigued by Raye saying this danger is strange, because I suspect that whatever's wrong with Serena doesn't have anything to do with the Negaverse. It's not their Modus Operandi."

"What do you mean?" Raye asked.

"Well, there's no indication her energy's being drained at an alarming rate, nor are they focusing on anyone else. Lita, you said the other day that Sailor Moon's power is stronger than ours, and that is true. That might be the reason her life's in danger, it might be the reason there's a change in her moods, and it might even have something to do with the 'something big'. But it's certainly not the Negaverse directly. I suspect it's some other kind of entity."

"Some other kind of entity?" Raye exclaimed. "That's all you got?"

"I'm sorry. I'm just as lost as you. But the disturbing nature of the fire just proves to me we have to get through to Serena and convince her to confide in us somehow because something is wrong," Amy said firmly.

If I can get Serena and Tuxedo Mask to express their mutual attraction, will Serena become her old self again? Will my plan really get through to Serena? Lita wondered.

There was the sound of communicator buzz and all three girls reached for theirs. "It's mine," Amy said. "Hello?" She saw the small face of the girl of whom they were just speaking.

"Hey, it's me, there's an attack downtown at some kind of flower festival."

"What are you doing downtown, Meatball Head?" Raye asked. "You weren't even at school!"

Serena made an aggravated face. "Is Lita with you too, Amy?"

"Yes, we're all here."

"Good. Hurry up." Serena ended the call.

By the time the scouts got downtown the flower festival was pure havoc. Sailor Moon had done a pretty good job of distracting the monster away from the people on the street, although most of them were on the ground, writhing in pain as some sort of force was sucking the energy out of them.

"Come on," Sailor Moon declared. "Just get me!"

The monster: a large, dandelion looking creature, shot out spores that Sailor Moon ducked with dexterity that Lita did not know Serena possessed, but she let out a scream when one hit her foot and caused her to fall face first onto the street. "That's not very nice!" she shouted, rubbing her chin.

"I'll figure out the monster's weak spot," Mercury said.

"Good, and I'll blast the damn thing," Raye growled, running over to help Sailor Moon to her feet.

Lita, however, could not focus on the battle. She was looking around, trying to spot someone she knew didn't want to be seen. But then the saw the small park on the opposite side of the street; it had a fountain, and a swingset, and a nice-sized tree whose branches were almost impossible to see through. She ran over to it, idly hearing Amy ask her where she was going as she did.

When she got to the tree, she stepped underneath its shade and looked up. He was almost completely bathed in black, even in the evening sunshine. But she could still see his mask.

"Sailor Jupiter, shouldn't you be helping with the fight?" Tuxedo Mask said in a calm voice.

"I should. But I wanted to ask you if you could stick around afterwards so I could talk to you." He didn't respond. "It's about Sailor Moon," she added, and he definitely shifted, but he did not say anything.

"All right, I gotta go kick this monster's butt. Bye!" Lita said and she ran over to Raye and Serena. Serena was fuming. "I had a kind of good day today!" she yelled, pointing a finger accusingly at the monster. "Do you know how long it's been since I've had a kind of good day?! And then scum like you come and fuck everything up!"

"Sailor Moon, calm down," Raye said softly.

Sailor Mercury joined them. "Attack the stem!"

Lita decided to stun the creature. "Jupiter Thunder!"

Sailor Moon removed her tiara. "Moon Tiara Magic!"

The monster crumbled into nothing after Serena's attack, and the people on the street began to wake up. "Come on," Raye said, and she led the girl into an alleyway so that the festival attendees wouldn't spot them. Serena's face was still red and she was breathing heavily, angrily.

"It took you guys long enough to get here," she said.

"And I repeat my earlier question, what the hell were you doing around here, anyway?" Raye asked.

"I was skipping school. That's no crime," Serena snapped.

"Well, actually I think it is," Raye said sharply, but then her voice softened. "You should let us know where you're going and stuff. It's good for the team."

"Good for you to keep tabs on me, you mean," Serena muttered, but she, too, seemed to have calmed down.

"Am I interrupting?" Tuxedo Mask stood a few feet away from the girls. "That was a good battle, girls. Very strategic," he said.

"Yeah, it was," Raye said. "Thanks for all your help."

"Sailor Mars," Amy said, half reprimanding her, half surprised. "How may we help you?" she asked Tuxedo Mask. She looked back at Sailor Moon, but she was leaning against a wall, staring at the sky.

"I believe he's here to speak to me," Lita said, stepping forward. She looked back at the girls' astonished faces. "It's alright," she assured them.

"Let's go, Sailor Jupiter," Tuxedo Mask said, and then, to Lita's embarrassment, he picked her up and proceeded to leap away with her.