AN: Still sick guys, and the last chapter was a bit angsty, so here's another! Some drabbles will be out sometime later today. Show me the love.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, but I do own Aria ^_^ Thanks to Kaitlyn Fall for betaing!!!
"So do you think it's true, Moira? Do you think the Moon Princess really had a secret twin, just in case she was to be kidnapped?"
The royal family had been incredibly hush-hush since the mysterious appearance of the second Endymion and Serenity last week – and even more so in the last few days since one of the Serenitys was kidnapped.
"I don't know, Sarah," Moira whispered back. "But you had better keep your voice down; I heard there are guards and Scouts everywhere looking for people who might know something. If they hear us talking about Princess Serenity..." She trailed off nervously, glancing around them.
"Come on; let's just fetch the water quickly. I don't like how still and quiet it is out here."
The two servants hurried down the road that lead to Selene Falls, the main water source for the Moon Palace. They bypassed the withering flowers and cut through the bends in the road, trying to stay outside as little as possible. The sooner they were back inside the palace, the better...
"Here," Moira passed her pail to Sarah. "I'm just going to keep watch while you gather the water. Tell me when you're done and we'll head back, okay?"
"Sure, okay." Sarah shook her head as she took the pails down to the edge of the water. Moira was getting pretty paranoid lately. She was about to duck down and fill up the pail when a flash of white caught her eye. She stared at it for a long while before deciding to actually take a look at what it was. It was no water lily, that was for sure.
She crept towards the mysterious colour, which looked strangely like a piece of fabric, floating in the shallow end. Inhaling sharply, Sarah fell straight to the ground as she fainted, the pails clanging loudly beside her.
"Sarah?" Moira asked nervously, eyes darting between the forest, the road and the flower fields. When her friend didn't reply, the brunette turned around. "Sarah? Sarah!"
She rushed to the aid of her friend, who lay on her side in the dirt. "Sarah, Sarah can you hear me?" she asked loudly, shaking her friend by the shoulders. She reached over and rolled her blonde friend onto her back. "Sarah, wake up! What's wrong?"
She reached for a pail and started to stand up to get some water when she saw the same thing that Sarah had.
But Moira didn't faint like Sarah had. No. Instead, her eyes were glued on the battered and bruised form of the Moon Princess.
Moira screamed and screamed, her bloodcurdling cry resounding all the way up the path and to the guards who stood by the garden exits.
xXxXx
"They've found her!" Aria panted as she sprinted into the dining hall, where everyone was trying to enjoy breakfast. It had been three days of tense meals and limited conversation, so the minute Aria had burst into the room; everyone was on their feet in seconds. "They're going to bring her up through the gardens I think!"
Plates and cutlery were abandoned as the group of eleven rushed through to the balcony overlooking the vast gardens. The back of a guard could be seen running out of view, and Darien cursed at their late timing.
"Where's he going?" he demanded to Endymion.
"He's going to see mother," Serenity realised, darting from the group before anyone could stop her. She and Darien were running neck and neck towards the throne room, bursting through the doors together just as the guard they'd seen burst through another. Queen Selene looked up, head snapping between the two doors in alarm.
With urgent but graceful movements, she stood and looked towards Serenity expectantly. Serenity, out of breath, pointed towards the guard.
"The body has been found," he declared in a shaky voice. Serenity and Darien felt their stomachs drop to the marble floor. Body? Why did he say body?
"Serena!" Darien choked, hands flying to his head. "My god, is she all right?"
Three heads swivelled towards the guard and he shrank under their intense stares. "I don't know. I've got three men bringing them back now."
"Them? How many bodies did you find?!" Sailor Venus demanded as her and the others arrived, breathless.
"It was two servants from the kitchens who found her," the guard said nervously, gulping. He hoped they remembered the time old expression don't kill the messenger.
"Hold the doors open!" a booming voice yelled from behind the terrified guard. He quickly obliged and another guard entered, carrying a blonde bundle.
"Who's that?" Darien demanded. "That's not Serena!"
The guard looked up. "No, this is one of the servants. She was the one who first found the body. She will need to be treated for shock, I'm sure. She is just unconscious, to the best of my knowledge."
Again with the word body! And what the hell did he mean, "shock"?
"Where's Serena?" Serenity pleaded, teary-eyed.
The guard indicated the way he'd just come. "Two men are bringing her as we speak. Shall I take this one to the medical wing?"
Queen Selene nodded tensely. "Yes, immediately. Thank you."
The guard did a small bow, as best he could holding the unconscious girl, and hurried off. The first guard stood holding the door open as crying could be heard echoing down the hall and bouncing off the walls. Every occupant in the room tensed as it grew louder and louder, drowning out the heavy footsteps with it.
"The other servant, your Highness," a thin and stocky guard informed as he dragged forward a small brunette, clearly beyond distressed.
"Oh my," Queen Selene murmured, pointing down to the same door the other guard had just used. He nodded curtly and rushed off, leading the girl behind him. "You might want to be prepared," he warned as he ducked through the door.
Sailor Jupiter reached for Serenity, holding her back forcibly by her shoulders as both Malachite and Endymion gripped Darien's upper arms.
Two sets of heavy, thunderous boots could be heard, stomping closer and closer as the seconds ticked by.
Not that they realised it, but every single occupant of the room –including the guard by the door- was holding their breath. The agony of the wait threatened to burst Darien's heart, and it looked like Serenity was doing no better.
A thickset guard entered, sword drawn and held steadily in front of him as he eyed his audience. Stepping aside, he motioned for the other burly guard to move forward.
A collective intake of breath was made as the Scouts, the Generals, Serenity, Endymion, Darien, Aria, the guard and Queen Selene laid their eyes on Serena. Serenity struggled in Sailor Jupiter's grip, and Sailor Mars had to lend her strength, holding her back as well.
A strangled cry escaped Darien's lips as he saw his archrival from Earth lying limply in the heavily built guard's arms. Her white gown was no longer white, instead a sickening mix of several shades of red; brilliant crimson being the most visible. It was tattered and in shreds, revealing wounds which had crusted over with blood. The small amount of skin that wasn't drenched in blood was a deadly pale white, and her lips were colourless.
Sailor Mercury and Zoisite rushed forward, and everyone once again held their breaths as they checked for Serena's vitals. Serenity collapsed under Sailor Jupiter and Mars' hands from the stress, and she crumpled to the floor.
"She... She's... She's alive!" Sailor Mercury cried in a shaky voice, feeling the barest of pulses in Serena's wrist. "But just barely!" She turned to Queen Selene. "She must be cared for immediately – we don't have time to waste."
Selene nodded and Zoisite and Sailor Mercury sprinted to the doors, leading the two guards and Serena away.
Darien let out a shaky breath and raised a quivering hand to his face, wiping across his eyes. She was alive. She was okay.
For now.
"Wha... What happened?" Serenity murmured, squinting through the bright lights to see the Scouts hovering over her in worry. "Oh my Selene, is Serena okay? Is she alive? Is she... Is she...?" Her eyes widened when no one answered her.
"She's alive," Endymion reassured her, letting go of Darien and reaching for his fiancé. "But only just."
Serenity burst into tears in Endymion's arms and he picked her up, carrying her out of the room.
"We can go see her though, right?" Darien asked. Queen Selene shook her head gravely.
"No. She must heal before anything else. You may go as far as the doors. If you enter the ward while she is still unwell..." Her eyes flashed dangerously and Darien got the message.
"Take me to her," he pleaded, turning to the Generals.
They lead him away silently, and Darien felt like he was stuck in the middle of a procession at a funeral. No one spoke, no sounds were made. Just heels clicking on the marble floor, and a sombre mood eating away at them.
xXxXx
"Tell me," Darien commanded once Endymion had entered the drawing room. Endymion had disappeared hours ago to hear from the servant girls how and where they had found Serena.
Endymion turned to Darien seriously. "Do you really want to know?" he asked with a grim expression.
Darien didn't even have to consider it, no matter how horrible the story would be. "Yes. Tell me everything."
Several minutes later, as Endymion was finishing what he'd been told by Moira and Sarah – who was now awake, but slightly shaken – Serenity snuck in. She closed the door quietly behind her and made her way to a cushy chair.
Darien couldn't speak, for the lump in his throat was growing bigger and bigger by the minute.
"So she was hidden in reeds by Selene Falls?" Sailor Venus asked incredulously, seriously disturbed by the idea.
"Dumped in the shallow water?" Sailor Mars asked, swallowing hard.
"My god!" Darien finally managed to choke out, the image in his head beginning to torture him all over again. "Stop! We heard it once, isn't that enough?"
No one opened their mouth, aware of how close to a nervous breakdown Darien was. The fire crackling in the hearth was the only sound for a long time, as the group sat still in the drawing room. No one moved, and if someone shifted in their seat, all eyes turned to them. There was a squeak outside the door, but Darien was too preoccupied with his thoughts to realize.
Serenity was the first to break the silence.
"Endy, how bad is it? Will she recover?"
"Sere!" Endymion looked up at her in horror. "How long have you been here?"
"Long enough to get the gist of what happened. But tell me, honestly. How bad is it?"
Endymion stared at her grimly before replying. "She lost so much blood that Zoisite and Mercury aren't sure she can generate more in time. Her heartbeat is too slow to work with our medicines."
"But don't you guys have transfusions? Can't you find out what her blood type is and test us all until someone matches? Actually… Serenity would definitely match, why don't we use hers?"
"Transfusions?" Nephrite asked. "As in transferring blood?"
"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Sailor Mars added, frowning.
"When you say blood type, you mean her hereditary, don't you?" Sailor Jupiter inquired.
Darien stared at them all in disbelief for several seconds before exploding. "Oh for god's sake! Are you THAT behind in technology!? Don't you know the Rh factor? Matching blood types? O? A? B? AB? No? Oh my GOD!"
"Darien, calm down," Endymion advised, watching his future self rant about the advance of science and modern medicine. "You have to remember we're a thousand years behind your time - you've developed far ahead of us."
"I don't want to calm down!" Darien shouted, picking up a book and throwing it into the fire. "I want to know that she's okay! I want her to be safe and healthy again! My god, this place you live in is hell! She'd be safer at home! I wish we'd never gotten stuck here in the first place!"
Darien threw another book in the fire and Serenity looked down guiltily.
"Please don't say that. Please tell me you didn't mean that."
Darien spun to her in anger. "Of course I did! I hate it here! As soon as Serena gets better, if she gets better, I'm taking her home with me. I don't care how we'll do it, but we're going home. We'll find this 'Pluto' you've all been on about. And she'll take us home to Earth in 2010. And Serena will be fine!"
Darien stormed out of the drawing room, leaving a frightened silence in his wake.
So I don't think Darien's having a nice vacation, how about you? ;P
xx
Carmen