Forced
Chapter 6

Serena and Rini had been the first ones to arrive at the Hikawa shrine, as they'd gone strait there after retrieving some food. Rini had suggested they go do something else first, but Serena had mentioned that she didn't want to, feeling too lethargic – Rini still didn't know what that word meant – to do anything but sit around. So sit around they did on the steps of the shrine, which only caused Rei's grandfather to come and speak to them when they'd first arrived.

He'd made his usual comments about how pretty girls like them should work at his shrine, even though he recognized Serena to be one of his granddaughter's friends. He'd thought that maybe with Rei not there he'd be able to convince her to work there, too. What happened though was that he became mildly frightened by the usually spastic and energetic blonde's current lackluster state. He also became frightened when she started lecturing him about trying to get pretty young girls to work at his shrine. Needless to say, he left them alone afterwards.

Rini had been staring at a few flowers growing randomly out of the ground around the walkway, or maybe they were just pretty weeds, when she heard footsteps coming up the huge set of stairs after what seemed like forever. Looking up, she saw that it was the priestess of the shrine herself, Rei who was venturing up those steps which led to her home. The young girl also saw the amount of surprise that was on the older female's face as she noted their presence and then as she noted Serena's unusually placid state.

Dumbfounded by Serena's look of disinterest about everything, Rei walked over to Rini to find out what was going on. Carrying her book bag at her side, she approached the pink-haired child with slight apprehension, as if not wanting to draw Serena's attention.

"What's wrong with her?" Rei asked before also adding, "And how'd you get that bruise?" She was of course referring to the mark on the child's forehead.

"I have no idea what's wrong with her… she's been this way since we left the house this morning," Rini shook her head as she said this. "And that," she pointed to the bruise, "is her fault, too. Her giant skull smashed into mine when I woke her up."

Rei nodded slightly and then said, "Maybe it has to do with that dragon and all the negative energy surrounding us now."

"Hi there, Rei," Serena greeted after having made her way over to her friend. Her voice was even and slow, almost broken like she had a speech impediment. "How are you?"

"Hi… Serena… I'm fine…" Rei could barely even think of what to say, unused to being asked that by Serena. Everything just seemed so odd. "How about we go inside, huh, Serena?" Rei thought of this in hopes that any purity that the shrine held would be able to break whatever potential spell Serena was under. And she also wondered why she and Rini hadn't fallen into the same state.

"Inside? Okay…" Serena nodded in agreement, taking no note as Rei threw Rini a concerned glance.

"Yeah, we can have cookies or something, too," Rei added to see if it would perk her up, but saw that it didn't at all.

Once inside, Rini and Serena situated themselves in the main room where they always had their meetings while Rei went off to get the aforementioned cookies as well as a few comics books to kill time, too. When she returned, she placed a larger stack of comics on the floor beside the table and placed the tray of cookies in the middle of it so that everyone could get them. While Rini helped herself to a cookie or two, Serena just kind of stared at them before picking up a comic book and flipping through it casually.

"Hey, this is the new volume, isn't it?" she held up the comic for Rei to see which one she was referring to. Upon seeing Rei nod she added, "I've been waiting for this one to come out." At which point she started reading it.

Rei picked up one of the cookies on the tray and put it in her mouth as she pulled her homework out of her book bag. She figured she might as well do it before the others got there and while Serena was still acting less than normal. Every once in a while she'd glance up at the blonde to make sure she was still living, but she didn't seem to be getting any more normal at all. And every time she looked at Rini, she saw that she was just as unaffected as Rei herself was. Somehow, Serena was more susceptible to the negativity than they were. She just hoped the others would come soon so that they could get things under way and maybe figure out how to help Serena.

As the others began to arrive, they all noticed the same thing Rei and Rini did. While they did all give their hellos to her, they all began whispering amongst themselves to theorize what was wrong and how to fix it. They'd all decided upon not starting the actual meeting until Darien arrived as well, since they figured it'd been good if he was in on the information as well.

"Sorry I'm late," Darien greeted when he did indeed arrive quite a bit later than everyone else. He didn't give any explanation and no one asked for one, so they all just fell into a strange little silence.

"Hi, Darien," Serena greeted in return with a little smile, now resting down the comic book that she'd been reading.

"Something wrong, Serena?" he asked as he instantly knew something wasn't right with her. He'd heard that she'd been attacked the day before, but this didn't seem to be a result of that.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just feeling lethargic, that's all," Serena supplied, again with a small smile.

"See! I told you she used a big word!" Rini whispered to the other girls who all nodded in agreement and shock.

"Serena, I didn't know you even knew that word," Ami commented, and though she sounded kind of like she was insulting the other girl, she really wasn't trying to. She honestly didn't know that Serena had known that word.

"What's this bruise from?" Darien asked as he sat beside Serena and moved her bangs slightly to observe the injury. He noted that it didn't seem to be anything more than a bruise, which was good.

"That's Rini's fault," she said with slight contempt, glancing over at the child as she did so.

"My fault!" Rini cried out in protest. "YOU'RE the one who decided to shoot up and smash your thick, friggen skull against mine!" She pushed her own bangs out of the way as well to show Darien her own bruise. He was shocked that she was there in the first place, but this was just strange beyond reason.

"YOU shouldn't have been so close to my 'thick, friggen skull' in the first place you little rat," Serena shot back, and though her voice seemed to be lightening up a bit it was still fairly calm.

"ANYWAY!" Rei shouted over them before it got too carried away. "We have more important things to deal with. One being that dragon."

"What happened to it?" Mina asked, since she'd been unconscious by the time the dragon had gone.

"You've noticed the sky?" Lita said more than asked. "Well, that's the dragon. It turned into mist or a cloud or something and then, poof, now it's the sky." She even made little hand motions as she said 'poof'; her fingers joined at the tips before breaking apart and then resting on her lap again.

"But how is that even possible?" Darien asked, leaning lightly on the table with his elbows, staring at each of them intently. "How can a dragon just suddenly turn into mist or whatever it is?"

"No, no. It's the other way around. How can mist turn into a dragon? 'Cause that's what it was in the first place, right, Serena?" Mina told them and then looked to Serena, who nodded.

"I couldn't get any solid readings on the dragon at all," Ami told them, though most already knew that. Even when she'd tried further later in the night, there'd been nothing coming up on her little computer about the dragon that would be helpful to them.

"And the only thing I get from the sky and everything is a very negative feeling," Rei added before popping another cookie in her mouth. She'd had to go get more when the others arrived, but now the plate was pretty full again.

"So, we have pretty much nothing," Lita sighed heavily, joined by the others.

A silence fell over them while they all sat and thought. None of them could come up with anything that they should do though and it was only frustrating them further. Occasionally, one of them would open their mouths to speak, only to shut it again promptly afterwards. That was until someone finally thought of something relevant to say.

"Say, Serena…" Mina began, drawing all of their attention. "Who was it that you were chasing?"

"Wha?" Serena said at first, before it clicked in, and when it did it seemed that all light bulbs of normalcy decided to kick in as well. "Oh!" She caused them all to jump by saying this quite loudly. "I'm not totally sure, but pretty sure that I saw Essa."

"Essa?" Mina asked, knowing the name was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"You mean Sailor Star! That Essa!" Rei demanded to know, the others looking suddenly intrigued as well.

"Who's Sailor Star?" Rini couldn't help but question since she hadn't been there during that whole ordeal, but she knew that whoever she was, the others were either surprised or alarmed by this.

"She was a Dark Senshi, but then she became good again," Ami told the young girl simply, though she knew that calling Star good was taking a risk.

"Good! Are you kidding me?" Rei spouted, outraged by what Ami had just said.

"I have to say I agree with Rei on that one," Darien added with a pensive look on his face. He wasn't about to say why, not wanting to alarm his future daughter even though she was looking to him for answers.

"What'd she do?" Rini asked gently after they all fell into a heavy silence. Obviously this was very serious, for why else would they be being so dodgy about it?

"Don't worry about it, we can take care of her…" Mina said finally, she, like the others, not wanting to alarm the younger girl.

"Ah, come on! I can-" Rini began to protest.

"Rini, just let it go," Serena told her, at which point she fell completely silent.

"No matter what she's done in the past, why is she here now?" Darien asked, though he doubted that the others would know since they seemed just as surprised as he was when Serena brought it up. Not only was he surprised, he was worried, too. Was she back as a friend or a foe? Was her goal once again to destroy the future by targeting the past?

"Could she have something to do with the dragon?" Lita speculated aloud, thinking that the others would probably see the same thing as she did.

"I think we should consult the fire," Rei suggested finally. She hadn't done so already, but looking for the answers as they were now, nothing was being accomplished.

With that agreed amongst them, they all headed to the room where the sacred fire would be lit. The room was never disturbed and only Rei could command the flames so no one else ever went in there without her. At the moment, they all got situated on the floor while Rei went to create the flames that she would consult. She ensured that there was enough wood and kindling and proceeded to light them, which took a minute or two to catch. Once the flames had caught though, they danced around in the little pit as Rei kneeled before it.

The group of females, as well as Darien, watched as she took to making symbols with her hands and whispering to the flames. They couldn't hear what she was saying, but she assumed that she was asking the fire anything it could tell them about their newest enemy. What the response was, was something that they hadn't expected at all.

While the fire only crackled at first, after a moment it took a more violent action; it quite literally roared. They were all startled beyond reason and frightened when the fire suddenly lashed out and took form of the dragon they'd seen, only smaller. Its head and two front legs lurched out in the form of the flames while the wings spread behind it to look more imposing. As they all took to taking cover, it towered over them and cried out again before returning to the form of a normal fire.

Rei peeled herself off the ground, where she'd been half-thrown as the fire lashed out. She was slightly singed by the flames since she'd been so close, but nothing more than that physically. Mentally her mind was reeling. It was screaming out that something was terribly wrong and would be terribly wrong in the end, and she couldn't figure out what was going on. As she sat there propped up by her own hands, she breathed heavily in trying to calm herself.

The others all slowly came out of their cowering positions as well, none of them touched by the fire, but they could feel the heat of it when it lashed out. Each of them just stared incredulously at the now calm flames and they also looked to Rei to make sure she was all right, too, which she seemed to be.

"What was that?" Lita mustered fearfully, her eyes unable to leave the fire at that point. She'd made herself as small as possible when she saw the flames take on the form of that dragon, resisting screaming out as well. Could the dragon possess the fire?

"It's not over yet," Rei spoke in a terrified manner, pushing herself backwards as she went before bumping into Ami. Neither seemed to care that they'd just collided, too perplexed by what was happening.

The red-orange light danced on the walls, the room having grown quite dark and several shadows forming. These shadows took form as well, forms that they all –excluding Rini – recognized, but couldn't quite place. There were three of them, all appearing to be young teenage girls and each standing closer together. The one girl held out an orb and the other two leaned in to look closer at it, at which point the shadow from the orb expanded and engulfed the three girls.

The shape the shadow on the wall took next was of one girl alone, a girl who could have easily have been mistake as Sailor Moon, but it wasn't her and somehow they all knew it, especially when it changed with a suddenly mysterious seeping of silver light and became the form of another long-haired Senshi. But then this Senshi too disappeared, becoming the shadow of someone in normal attire, with shorter hair than the last before taking on the form of the dragon.

As they saw the dragon, they all heard the strangest sound. A wailing of sorts, followed by a loud roar that shook through them all. They all couldn't help but cover their ears and the group visibly jumped when they heard the fire crack even louder than the roar before extinguishing itself in a puff of thick black smoke.

Coughing, they ran out of the room as fast as their shaking limbs would take them, though they were tailed by the smoke. As they ran father outside so that the smoke could get into the open air, Rei's grandfather came charging out and asking frantically what was going on. The old man's arms were flailing around in the air, his hands placing themselves on his head every once in a while as he looked at all the thick smoke.

"What happened, Rei! What did you do to my shrine!" he shouted accusingly at his granddaughter.

"It's not my fault, grampa! The fire got out of control!" she defended herself, coughing slightly even as she took to putting her hands on her hips in an annoyed manner.

"You're going to burn the place down!" he shrieked, his eyes wide as he looked at her.

"The fire's out, grampa!" Rei told him sharply, trying to calm him down.

As this arguing continued, the others all stood near each other, making sure everyone was all right. No one seemed injured, just terribly shaken by the whole ordeal. They all looked at each other silently, trying to determine what exactly had happened and what it all meant, but even silently couldn't come up with anything. Something strange was going on though, and this wasn't any normal enemy that they were going to beat in one day, that was for sure.

"The sky," Ami was looking up at it, watching as the smoke joined the rest of the darkness that shrouded them. "Hasn't this happened before?"

"What are you talking about?" Lita huffed, leaning on the tree they happened to be standing by as she tried to regain her breath.

"Remember the one time with Sailor Space I think it was? When she came to fight Star…" Ami refreshed her own memory as well as everyone else's.

"I remember that," Darien spoke up. "That was the day that Star vanished, too…" He could recall it all quite clearly.

That day, he'd been out for a walk just to get some fresh air. All the drama that had been taking place was causing him to give himself a headache when thinking about it, so he'd taken to going for a walk through the park. At which point, he'd noticed that the sky darkened and he'd also seen Essa there as well. Neither had been able to determine what was going on then either, and each had headed back to their homes, well, Essa headed back for Serena's anyway. And then, Sailor Space had attacked Star, while Darien and Serena had been able to do nothing but stare. This lack of helping had upset the girl quite a bit, and she'd vanished afterwards… though not for long.

"Who's Sailor Space, now?" Rini asked, totally unaware as to who they were talking about, though she wanted to know. She had to help them, didn't she? That's why she'd come back, after all.

"She was another of the Dark Senshi, but she's… gone now," Mina chose her words carefully.

"Jeez, how many of these Dark Senshi people are there?" Rini questioned irritably, not liking the sounds of these guys at all.

"There were three, but none of them are Dark Senshi anymore," Serena supplied, looking to Rini at the same time.

"That we know of," Rei rejoined them, having gotten her grandfather to calm down and go back to whatever he was doing before.

"As much as I'd hate to admit it, she could be right. What if Essa's gone back to being a Dark Senshi again?" Lita asked carefully, knowing how Serena wouldn't want to think of such a thing.

"We'll just have to fight her then…" Darien told them with slight apprehension, for the same reasons that Lita was questioning carefully.

"We'll just make her good again. She's proven that she truly is a good person, right?" Serena asked, noting that none of her friends were supporting her on this, which made her heart sink. The girl could also feel that strange feeling trying to slow her down again, but she was trying her best to fight it off this time, which seemed to be working. She wondered if it was because all her friends were present now.

Rini looked to each of them curiously, not understanding this tension between any of them at all. She hardly believed that it was merely because this Sailor Star was a Dark Senshi before that they were all nervous. There was something more to it, and she was going to find out what it was since they wouldn't tell her. Maybe she would just have to find this Essa person herself, though that could be really difficult.

"So what do we do now?" Mina asked after a moment.

"I think all we can do is wait and see what happens next," Serena said with a slight quietness to her voice. She was feeling rather dejected that her friends weren't with her on Essa being a good person, though she could understand why.

"I hate just sitting around and not knowing what to do!" Rei complained loudly, causing a bird or two to fly away in fright at the sudden loud noise.

"What else can we do? We've exhausted all our options," Ami told them. "Except for maybe just going to see Essa ourselves, but I doubt any of us wants to do that."

"She's right you know…" Lita nodded in agreement.

It was Rini who spoke next as she said, "Well, then we wait."