"Princess Serena"
The warm clear voice rang out clearly into every crevice of the girl's sleeping mind, rousing her subconscious self.
"Huh? Who's calling me?" She wondered aloud, her thoughts echoing throughout the dark passageway. She'd definitely heard this person before, but it had been a while and she was drawing a blank.
Suddenly a pure white light shot out from above and illuminated the entire landscape, which Serena recognized as the ruins of the Moon kingdom. Dozens of tiny lights were floating around her in the air like little stars. Looking down at herself she could see that she was wearing her royal Lunarian gown.
"It's been a long time my daughter," She had to jump back slightly as a particularly bright beam before her materialized into the figure of a beautiful Queen, a proud smile etched on her face.
"Q-queen Serenity? Mother, is that really you?" Serena gasped.
"Yes it is Serena." Serenity smiled gently. "I have been watching over you all these years, you have gained much more power as a Sailor Scout than you ever had at the time of the Silver Millenium, yet you have shown compassion to those who have fought you and most importantly of all you have become the true guardian of the Silver Crystal, the most powerful object in existence. Princess Serenity, I am proud to call you my daughter."
"Mother!" Serena's Sapphire eyes filled with tears and she felt the older woman pull her into a soft hug, wrapping her long slender arms around her neck.
For a few moments Queen Serenity held her in total silence before she eventually pulled back to face her with a serious expression.
"Now do you know why you have been sent to Alfea?" She asked.
"Uh uh," Serena shook her head.
The silver haired woman walked over to the edge of the chipped balcony and stared up at the starry view above them. "I have seen a brief glimpse of the future where you and Darien will marry and rule the Earth and Moon together. But before you take the throne there is one magical form you must take if you are to handle the power, and it is a form like no other you have achieved."
"Huh? Is there another Sailor henshin after Eternal then?" Serena asked, completely confused with the situation.
Queen Serenity turned back to her. "No Serena, it is called the Enchantix. It is the final compulsory form of the princesses and warriors who come from planets that are not part of the Sailor alliance."
"Wait a minute, what's the Sailor alliance?" The moon princess asked, however as soon as the words escaped her lips she found the scenery slowly deteriorating and dissolving into fine grains of platinum dust, which swept around her skirt in soft swirls.
"Wait, mother!" She called desperately as her vision begun to darken, holding her arms in front of her face to shield herself from the powder. "How do I get an Enchantix?"
"Just let the others show you the way," Even though she couldn't see anything, her mother's words seemed to echo around her as if they too had been caught in the twister. "But prepare to make a great sacrifice."
xxx
Ever since they had left the museum with the Agador box Darcy couldn't help but notice that Baltor seemed to be distracted about something. Icy had still been seething about the irritating elusive warrior throwing a pizza at her and Stormy was still egging her on.
Now it was the beginning of the next day and he was still seated in the corner of the cave, watching a replay of the battle intently through the crystal ball he had taken from Cloud Tower.
"Hey!" Icy snapped in his direction. Rolling her eyes the dark witch guessed that her sister had experienced another headache in the night. "We just took the Agador box so now you can absorb the magic without tearing a hole in the fabric of time or whatever- I think you'd show some enthusiasm instead of STARING ENDLESSLY AT THOSE LOSERS!"
"Yeah, for once listen to pizza-face!" Stormy agreed, nodding her head seriously.
"DO YOU WANT YOUR HEAD IMPALED ON A SPIKE?!" Icy grabbed her by the collar with one hand, clutching a very sharp ice crystal in the other.
It was probably the increasing volume of their arguing that drew Baltor away from his concentrated abstraction but instead of trying to break it up; he merely turned his chair around by 90 degrees and quietly watched the witch fight unfold in front of him, smirking at the sight.
Darcy couldn't help but shudder slightly at this; she couldn't believe she and her sisters had been landed in the same situation they had experienced last year, and one of the worst moments of her life. From where they were now no one would have possibly believed that the only reason Baltor was with them and succeeding in his goals was because they'd wanted to feed him to the Omega ice snakes. Sure he was definitely better looking than Darkar, and he did have some very powerful magic up his sleeves, but every day a small voice shouted into the back of her brain that he was probably just waiting to get powerful enough to dispose of them.
It was just unfortunate Icy and Stormy didn't feel the same way. Even though she was a dark witch Darcy knew that their poor unity was a key obstruction to defeating their enemies, whether it was a group of irritating fairies or a dark wizard who nearly destroyed them. That was why she knew she needed to stop the conflict, even if Baltor preferred to watch the show.
"Hey guys, you know she hit Baltor too, right?" She announced loudly, causing the wizard to shoot a glare in her direction.
"In answer to your comment Icy, I'm conducting a search for information that could be crucial to taking over Magix and the rest of the realms and that could make or break my success. I guess it would be better to mention this now so we can get the job done and you can stop being so childish." His irritated gaze lingered over Darcy for a brief moment before turning back to the others.
"So what exactly were you looking at anyway?" Icy tried to crane her neck over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the images in the crystal ball.
"When we were in the museum I could sense a strong source of magic in the vicinity," Baltor explained. " I know it wasn't the dragon fire, I can sense Bloom's magic trail just as easy as my own. No this was different, it was much more pure and potent and powerful. It felt like a force that could easily vanquish anything in its way at the drop of a hat. It came from that girl in the white mask."
"Wait a second, you sound just like you did when you were talking about that legendary crystal earlier!" Darcy's eyes widened in recollection.
"I'm full aware of that. That's why I've been studying the battle, it could be possible that perhaps the legend is true…"
"Don't tell me," Stormy raised her hands. "You're saying that dumb crystal actually exists?"
"No I'm not sure, at least not now. But with the help of an Invenire orb from the realm of Invenitus," He held up his hand with the palm outstretched and facing the ceiling and smiled as a small ball of indigo matter, surrounded by a silver ring of energy that gave it a minature planetary appearance, cumulated into existence, "I might be very soon.
Now, Sphere of Invenitus! Go and seek out the Silver Imperium Crystal!" At his command the globe hovered into the air and promptly whizzed out of the open window behind him, leaving the energy ring in its place. Everyone was silent for a few minutes as they looked at the inky trail of smoke it had left behind that was rapidly evaporating into the air.
"So… now what?" Icy was the first to break the stillness.
"Now we wait, if the sphere doesn't find its target this ring will glow red. However if it does, it will become green," Baltor continued to look down at the magic in his hand. "And then we retrieve the prize!"
xxx
"So what class do we have next?" Serena asked as she followed her new fairy friends down the hall to the classroom. She was certainly hoping it would fare better than… ugh… mathmagics.
"Magical battle defense with Griselda." Musa told her. "I'm sorry that you have to deal with the grouchiest teacher at Alfea on your first day!"
"Griselda?" The blonde did a double take. "You mean that teacher who acted really strangely around me when I arrived? And when you say battle does that mean we have to fight something because lemme tell ya I'm not big on the whole- killing someone- having to be quick on your toes- kind of thing!"
"Erm…" The winx looked at each other, not sure what to say about that. Serena merely looked ahead walked alongside them, cheerfully humming a catchy tune.
"Well it is a lesson, it's supposed to help fairies learn how to fight, it can do the same for her!" Tecna tried to sound hopeful.
"I don't mean to sound mean or anything but was she even paying attention during class?" Bloom asked the others in a hushed whisper. "Flora you were sitting closest to her, were those even equations she was writing out?"
The brunette looked confused as she tried to remember. "It's hard to tell, one time she was drawing some beautiful roses, but then she started drawing what looked like some really strange symbols. I wouldn't have noticed but the whole time she kept muttering something about a harlem shake being real and interrogating some blonde people when she got home."
"Sounds like dreams really get to her." Layla still remembered how they had found her that same morning. "Well she was fast asleep when I came back to the room at 2:00 AM." Stella commented before letting out a huge yawn. "And FYI I was removing my foundation so I could apply my night time cleansing solution." She added before anyone could ask.
xxx
Five minutes later the entire class was standing outside the school. Griselda had ordered the fairies in the class that were still in their magic winx to transform first. Bloom and the others would go last as they had their enchantix, but in the meantime they would watch on the sidelines.
"Oh thank goodness!" Stella stretched out her arms happily from her position on the pink bench. "Now I can relax and have some quality tanning time!"
"Hmm," Serena chewed the corner of her lip, not really listening. She had no idea what she was going to do; she didn't have a fairy form like the others and she definitely couldn't show anyone the henshin she did have, since Luna's words about transforming kept ringing in her ears.
"No matter what, nobody can know that you are Sailor Moon. And while you can still transform, only do so unless you absolutely have to!"
Maybe if she stayed in the shadows they wouldn't notice her…
"Serena aren't you going to go join the others?" Layla had seen the girl standing on her own in the corner.
"Erm…why should I? How come you guys don't have to?" Serena counter-acted, slightly skittishly.
"Well you see our magic has reached a higher level than everyone else's." Tecna informed her. "We've all achieved our final compulsory fairy transformation, the Enchantix. The others are still at Magic winx level."
"You achieve the charmix in the sophomore year," Flora continued. "When you face a fear and confront a part of your true self. But it's only a small power up and only lasts for a certain amount of time so everyone else has probably used theirs up already."
"So don't worry! Everyone else is at the same stage you are, just go for it!" Bloom winked.
"Yeah come on! We wanna see your fairy outfit!" Musa added excitedly.
"Erm…" Serena was still standing precariously on the spot, looking as though she might teeter over and collapse.
"Serena, is there a problem with your winx?" Griselda had appeared behind her. Remembering her first run in with the teacher, Serena racked her brains to think of a believable excuse.
"Erm Professor didn't my paper explain that I have…er asthma and that I can't take part in any physical sports?" She asked, trying her best to sound confident and nonchalant.
"Your letter explained nothing of the sort! It is certainly true that you come from an unusual background but unless I get a note from your doctor you are expected to take part in EVERY single lesson! Is that clear? Now get ready and stop dawdling!"
As she watched Serena squirm in the spot Stella turned to her friends.
"What did Griselda mean by unusual background?" She whispered loudly.
"I don't know but keep it down Stell! The whole class could have heard you!" Musa answered.
"Maybe it's just because her realm was destroyed," Bloom told them.
Serena took a few swift steps back from the group, taking a huge gulp. "Uh…ok! I'll just go and change over there! I'll- er, be right back!" With that, she sped off behind a coral pink corner of the school building.
Once she was sure she was safely out of sight she flung her wrist in front of her face and flipped open the screen of her communicator.
"Luna Luna, help me!" She cried as her guardian's furry face flashed into view. "They want me to transform to practice fighting and I can't show them my sailor henshin!"
"Don't worry Serena," The mau reassured her. "I'm going to have a word with your headmistress now so you won't have to. In the meantime just buy yourself some more time, it won't take very long."
"Huh? How does that change anything! Why would she listen to a talking cat?" The girl demanded. Couldn't Luna see the situation was hopeless?
"Don't you remember that this isn't my only form?" Just before Luna's image faded from view it shifted into that of a beautiful woman with long dark waves flowing down her back.
"Please hurry Luna." Serena whispered, kneeling so low her lips brushed against the smooth pink and gold rim of the device.
However before she even had the chance to pick herself up off the ground the Invenire orb made a beeline around the corner and slammed straight into her back, right between the shoulder blades.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Suddenly Serena's world was filled with a bright white light and a heavy weight penetrating into her chest, as if it wanted to yank out her heart. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut but she could feel a strong stream of energy coming from the silver crystal, not unlike the power it gave her to transform only instead of feeling warm and invincible this was white hot and pain seared through her every muscle towards the crystal, and right into the core of her body.
"Surrender to me," A soft voice seemed to hiss almost inaudibly into her ear like a snake. "Show me your power, give it to me."
"N-no!" Serena thought, trying to blink tears out of her eyes. "I won't lose to you! No one will take the crystal as long as I am around!"
Only just managing to move her fingers, she closed them around her brooch through the thin layer of her shirt and held on tight, trying to keep all of the energy inside.
"Must control my power!" She grit her teeth hard, scarcely able to see what she was doing. "You won't win!"
It seemed like several millennia before eventually the torture stopped and as soon as it did Serena felt as light as a feather. She felt too light headed to wonder if it was because she had managed to hold in all the power or whether whoever it was who attacked her had simply got bored. All she could think of was to keep the crystal with her and that no one else would take it from her.
Her vision begun to blur rather quickly and she could just make out several shadows bending over her before she hit the ground.
Xxx
Just as the class was finally about to commence, the piercing screams alerted everyone's attentions to a bright silver column of light that appeared to be around the corner.
"Quick! Let's get over there!" Bloom called out as she ran up to it to get a closer look, with her friends and the rest of the class not far behind.
Once they had a clear view they were stunned to see Serena suspended in mid-air, right in the middle of the spotlight and clutching her chest with both hands.
"Oh my goodness!" Griselda exclaimed.
"Her forehead- it's glowing!" Tecna could just make out some sort of shape that seemed to be engraved the girl's temple and producing a lot of the energy surrounding her. However as she could not get any closer the pinkette couldn't work out what exactly it was.
"We can't just stand here and do nothing!" Musa shouted.
"Enchantix!" The winx yelled in unison.
Once they were transformed they flew closer to the source of the problem.
"It looks like there's dark magic inside of her and she's trying to fight it all by herself!" The fairy of technology told the rest of the winx.
Suddenly all the white energy seemed to dissipate as quickly as it had started and Serena dropped facedown onto the ground.
"Serena!" Bloom flew down and gently turned the blonde teen over so that her head was now out of the mud and rested securely in the fire fairy's elbow. "Are you ok?"
It took about a minute but Serena became animated again enough to let out a few splutters and spit out several blades of grass.
"Blaargh! Ugh…" It appeared that that had only been a reflex action as she immediately slipped back into unconsciousness.
"Out of the way girls! Go back to the main entrance there's nothing to see here!" Griselda barked, pushing past several fairies to get the group.
"Do you know what has happened to her?" She enquired, looking each girl in the eye, making Stella shudder slightly and whisper, "Have a mint!"
"I don't know," Bloom looked worried. "I think it's knocked her out!"
"Not my crystal, not my crystal, no," Serena muttered softly, her body shaking with every word.
"Poor Serena, she's really ill!" Flora felt her forehead. "She needs medical care!"
"Girls, take her to the nurses office immediately." Griselda instructed. "And don't forget to come back and participate in the rest of the lesson!" She shouted at Stella's retreating form.
"It seems like someone attacked her with dark magic," Tecna observed the unconscious girl as they reached the door to the infirmary. On entering the room they gently laid her down on one of the empty beds.
"Maybe some fairy dust will break whatever is left of the spell!" Musa suggested.
"Good idea!" Bloom nodded. Her and the others detransformed and watched as the fairy of music pulled her fairy dust bottle from her cyan choker. She unscrewed the cap and slowly sprinkled some of the pink powder over Serena's sleeping form. They all breathed sighs of relief as the girl's breathing became normal and she relaxed onto the mattress.
"Guess that's all we can do for now," Layla said sadly while the others nodded in agreement.
"Wait, maybe one of us should sit with her in case she wakes up!" Stella conjured up a pink sparkly chair. "I'd be happy to volunteer!"
"Stella! You're not getting out of the lesson that easily!" Bloom grabbed her arm and pulled her along as she strode back to the class with the others close behind. Fortunately none of them noticed the black cat with the crescent moon mark slip swiftly under the bed.
Xxx
A while later when Serena awoke she found herself to be in some sort of infirmary, judging by the first aid posters on the opposite wall. However her head seemed to have tripled in weight and she could hardly lift it a centimeter off the soft downy pillow on which it was currently resting.
"Oh brother," She moaned inwardly. "I haven't felt this rough since the time I came out of the dentist!"
flashback
Serena is securely strapped in to the front passenger seat in Darien's car. Even though she has a pink blanket over her lap and a fluffy white pillow underneath her head, she looks extremely groggy and seems to be making an effort to hold her eyelids up.
Darien (gently): Hey Serena, how're you doing?
Serena: I haad surgery!
Darien: Yeah, I know. How did it go?
Serena (shakes her head violently from side to side): I, I didn't feel aaanythingg!
Darien: Yeah
Serena: Urrrrgghhh, I feel funny…
Darien: Kinda felt good didn't it, now your teeth are in better shape!
Serena: Errrr… Darien? Is this real life?
Darien (chuckles): Yeah Serena this is real life.
Serena: Okaaay now, now… I have two fingers.
Darien: Good! (Serena tries to place one of her pink manicures in between her lips) Nu uh uh uh! Don't put it in your mouth ok?
Serena (blinking wide-eyed): I can't see aaanything!
Darien: Yes you can.
Serena: I, I don't feel tiiired…
Darien: You don't?
Serena: Do I have stitches?
Darien: Yeah
Serena: Do I have stitches?
Darien: Yes. Yes you do.
Serena (her tongue lolls out the side of her mouth as she attempts to impersonate the annoying orange): Nyanyanyanyanya…
Darien: Serena! Don't do that, it'll mess up the stitches!
Serena: (giggles) Hey, hey Darien, you have four arms! Ugggh why iss this happening to meee? (Her head lolls in front of her)
Darien: Hey ssh, it's ok; it's just from the medicine! You'll be ok soon! (He softly puts her head back and smoothes the golden bangs out of her eyes)
Serena (looks up at him with watery eyes): Wi-will this be forever?
Darien: (sighs) No this won't be forever.
Serena: Tuxedo Mask...(she reaches up to touch his cheek) Prince Darien…
Darien: Yes?
Serena: (serious tone) You shiny, you beautiful man. You stay shiny.
End flashback
"Serena!" Luna's voice was successful in penetrating the fuzzy cloud around her brain and she could just about turn it 90 degrees to face her feline friend.
"Lunaaaa?" The golden haired girl moaned groggily. "Whasshappnin?"
"You're awake finally!" The cat beamed. "You've been out of it for the whole afternoon, don't worry I've been by your side ever since they brought you in here!" Then her expression became serious. "Now what happened exactly? Can you remember anything?"
"Yeah. It really hurt and my crystal… my crystal…" Serena's eyes welled up as she desperately tried to find the precious object, letting out a huge sigh of exhausted relief to find it was still clutched tightly in her hand.
"That brooch must be very special to you!" Luna swiftly jumped out of sight as a friendly looking woman in a white coat came over to Serena's bedside with a clipboard. "We had a hard time trying to get you to relax your hands but you refused to let go of it to the very end!" She gave a small chuckle at the girl's terrified expression. "I'm Ophelia the school nurse," She continued. "And I'm going to have to examine you a bit to see how you're doing. But you're awake so there certainly seems to be some signs of improvement!"
"Uh…ok! Sure," Serena shifted slightly, preparing to get out of bed.
"Don't worry it'll just be a few questions, now did anything attack you?"
"I-I don't know." Serena stammered. It was true, whatever it was had come up from behind so she hadn't been able to see anything before it had gone in for the kill.
"I see. Now how do you feel?"
"Tired." The blonde yawned, struggling to keep her eyelids open as her head flopped back down onto the pillow with a soft thump.
"Well that's only to be expected!" The nurse reassured her gently. "Hmm, you seem to be fine now whatever that thing was, all you need at the moment is a good long rest, I'm sure you'll be as fit as a fiddle by tomorrow!" She picked up her clipboard and, from hearing the squeaky sounds of shoes on the polished floor, Serena could tell she had left the room. She immediately turned to hang her head over the side so she could see under the bed.
"Luna!" She called urgently at the darkness.
"I see you're finally awake." Startled, she pulled herself upwards again to face an elderly woman in the doorway whose white hair resembled a small fluffy cloud. Her kindly expression put Serena somewhat at ease.
"I must say I didn't expect our first meeting to be like this but on behalf of my students and staff I would like to say what a pleasure it is to have you as a student at Alfea! I am Headmistress Faragonda," The woman smiled, walking into the room at a leisurely pace.
"Oh! Erm- Good afternoon Headmistress! Excuse me for, er, my, er, position!" Serena promptly jumped off the furniture and onto her two feet before bowing hurriedly to the teacher.
"Oh that's quite alright, I heard about what happened." Faragonda said. Then her expression became grave. "Which is all the more reason why I need a private word with you about an urgent matter."
Serena couldn't help gulping at the ominous tone. "Um, ok. What is it?"
"There are things you need to know that are happening all over the realms, I am correct in assuming that the Winx told you all about Baltor?"
Serena nodded firmly, not only had she heard, but had seen him, and fought him too. "Yup, evil bad guy with coat tails of doom and eyeliner to match? Got it!"
Chuckling slightly despite herself at the coat tails of doom comment, Faragonda continued. "Then surely you must know that he is gathering magic from all of the most powerful planets in the dimension?"
"Yeaaah, I don't mean to sound like a total bimbo here but, where is this all going?" Serena was extremely confused.
At this Faragonda placed a serious hand on her shoulder. "If Baltor find out about you, you could be in extreme danger!"
"Whaa? Why me?" Serena did a double take.
"When I found out that you had accepted my offer of attending Alfea it was wonderful news, not only because the school would be gaining a new student, but also that there was proof that the fairy tale of the Silver Millenium existed." The Headmistress told her.
"Uh huh." Serena nodded, deciding to save her opinions for the end of the story, and also because she could clearly see the frantic gestures from Luna that meant "Don't tell them anything!"
"Legend has it that there was once a prosperous kingdom on the Moon, which was the home of the Lunarians, and was completely wiped out by the Dark kingdom. All the inhabitants, including the Queen, her daughter and her loyal court lost their lives to seal away their enemy with what was known as the most powerful crystal in the cosmos. For centuries no one has ever known whether this empire was real or not, until you arrived Serena."
"Riiight." Serena motioned for her to go on, but was inwardly rolling around in her soul room at the fact that she and her friends were presumed dead but were actually very much alive.
"According to the papers given to me by Griselda, you are the last of your kind. Your guardian also approached me earlier today who informed me that it was not wise for you to take part in the physical parts of the classes, that is until your power reaches a certain level."
"Right! My powers! I've been meaning to ask Headmistress; apparently I need to get an Enchantix! How do I get one exactly?" Serena shot in with her question, eager at getting an answer to her dream.
Faragonda smiled sadly. "I'm afraid that will be rather difficult for you Serena, as to get an Enchantix a fairy must save someone from her own realm and in doing so, make a great sacrifice."
The news seared through Serena like a jolt of white-hot lightning and she visibly seemed to sag downwards. Faragonda seemed to notice this and tried to reassure her.
"Do not worry, while you are at Alfea you can still train your powers and become stronger, in fact I would advise you to spend a lot of time with Bloom and her friends, they may be able to help you."
However the Moon princess seemed to detect an ulterior motive coming from the older woman. "Hang on, forgive me Headmistress, but I don't think that's the only reason you want me to hang around them!"
Faragonda raised a hand in defeat. "You are quite right Serena. I also believe that they are the only ones who will be able to protect you from Baltor. He is a very dangerous creature and if he discovers that magic from the Silver Millenium exists, he's going to try to destroy you!"
Xxx
Flash!
Among all the dark colorings in the gothic study, there was a single ring of bright green, gently levitating above a gloved hand. Even though it disintegrated after a few minutes the conjurer still could hardly contain the emotion that somewhat resembled joy at the discovery.
"Soon nothing will stand in my way."