Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon and I am not making any money off this story. It's just something to entertain myself with.
Note: I just want to say that this is my first fanfic story. I would greatly appreciate reviews and constructive criticism. Please NO flames. Despite popular belief there is a difference between the two and flames can be very hurtful things. Just thought I should point that out.
I have to say that I love all your guys' reviews! They mean so so much to me. All you authors out there know what I mean, there's nothing more rewarding than someone saying that they love your story. Hehe. I gotta say that I pretty much have everyone so confused. You all might kill me for what I have planned up.
Finally the chapter -or scene really- that inspired the story! You'll see what I mean later on, a certain confrontation is what I am talking about. Because it is the chapter that inspired the story, I really really want feedback -meaning reviews!-, on this chapter. Pretty please people!
Also, please read the A/N at the bottom of this chapter! I'll be clearing a few things up, pointing things out, etc.
Here's an extremely early chapter for you all. Enjoy!
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When Rei woke up hours later, the room was pitch black and silent. The priestess quickly cast bleary eyes around the room, trying to find her alarm clock. She finally saw the glaring red numbers on her nightstand and blinked a few times to bring them into focus.
'11:45 , perfect.' she thought with a smile. 'Time to get Serena.'
Slowly the raven-haired girl began looking for her feline companion so they could leave. She found Luna moments later on the other side of the room. The cat was standing in front of the newly created door, studying it intently.
"Hey Luna." Rei greeted with a yawn as she got up and stretched, which caused her to automatically wince. 'Ouch. Sleeping on the floor was definitely not fun.'
"Rei." greeted Luna in a preoccupied voice as she continued to stare at the strange writing on the door's frame. 'This is the old language.' she thought as her eyes widened in shock. 'I remember seeing it and reading it, even writing it! But I don't have the faintest idea of how to understand it anymore. How strange.'
"Are you ready to get Serena?" questioned the priestess as she walked over to Luna. As she was talking, she momentarily knocked Luna out of her thoughts of why she could remember something, yet not at the same time. "It's getting closer to midnight."
"Yes, I'm ready to go Rei. There should not be too many people about and if there are they should be easily avoided." confirmed Luna without even bothering to look at the girl. 'I will need to investigate the language of the Moon Kingdom later.'
"Right, that's what I was just going to say. So, do you think that the door is stable?" came the question as Rei hesitantly knocked on the door and held her breath. When nothing happened, she knocked on it harder. "Well, it seems incredibly sturdy at least."
"Yes it is. I looked it over before you woke. It is going to hold it's shape without a problem." assured Luna before she urged Rei to transform so they could travel faster.
"All right then." cheered Rei with a smile once she was transformed into the fire and spirit Senshi. "Time to get Serena!"
With that said, Luna jumped onto Sailor Mars's shoulders and they raced off into the night, heading for Minako's apartment.
On the way there, Luna and Rei almost caught the attention of two late night stranglers. Luckily for them, the two men were too incredibly drunk and after glancing strangely in Sailor Mars's and Luna's direction at the entrance of an alley, they continued to stagger down the street without a word.
'Whew. That was close.' Mars thought to herself as she breathed a sigh of relief. 'Better stay closer to the rooftops from now on.'
The claws that were digging their way into Mars's shoulder caused the girl to realize that Luna also shared with her thoughts. With a wince, the red-clad senshi took off again, jumping up the nearest fire escapes and onto an apartment building's roof.
It was fifteen minutes later before Rei and Luna arrived on Minako's balcony. Quietly sliding the door open, Rei walked into the room with Luna following shortly behind. Rei wasn't even in the room more than 10 feet before she stopped in her tracks, appalled.
There, sprawled out and sleeping peacefully on the couch was Minako; not Sailor Venus. That fact was what angered Rei the most, not to mention that Minako was asleep in the first place. Both Rei and Minako had agreed that if they were alone with Serena, that they would be transformed. It was a safety precaution in case Serena had tried to escape or anything else of that nature.
'That's one strike against Minako.' the senshi thought irritatedly as she walked deeper into Minako's front room.
The next thing Mars saw caused her murderous fury. All around Minako's form was evidence of Minako's evening; a careless evening at that. On the floor sat a huge tube of half-melted and half-eaten ice cream, with the spoon still dangling in between Minako's hand and the tub.
In Minako's other hand was the remote to her television, which still displayed the title menu of a romance movie. At the other foot of the couch was a stack of DVDs, some still opened with their discs hanging out, signifying that they had been played already.
'Strike two. That's a day's worth of movies.' Mars thought with a murderous frown as she looked down at Minako. 'Damn woman. I knew we shouldn't have trusted her alone with Serena.'
"Mars." came a sharp whisper that caused the senshi to stop glaring at Minako and look toward Luna. "We'll deal with Minako's incompetence later. Let's get Serena and leave."
With a silent nod the fire senshi led Luna toward Minako's guest room that had been housing Serena. Both breathed sighs of relief when they saw that the door was still closed.
'Surprise, surprise.' Mars thought darkly as she walked into the room to find Serena sleeping on her bed still. 'I wouldn't have been surprised if Minako had just let Serena go.'
"Come on, Mars." came the quiet urging as Luna rushed past the priestess's legs. "We shouldn't waste anymore time."
"Got it." came the girl's equally quiet response as she walked over to Serena's bed. When she reached the bed she finally took notice of something vital. Serena was sleeping peacefully with her hands under her chin; something that shouldn't be possible. She had been released from her handcuffs and Rei knew by who.
"Strike three." growled Mars as she glared toward Minako's unknowing form in the living room. "You're out Minako."
"Hmm." came a quiet mumble that startled Mars and Luna. Both watched as Serena rubbed her face into her pillow before slowly opened her eyes and blinking a few times. The blonde didn't get much farther than spotting Sailor Mars and releasing a gasp before Mars dealt a harsh blow to the girl's head, efficiently knocking her unconscious.
"Rei!" came Luna's enraged whisper. "Knocking Serena out like that wasn't part of the plan. She's already in awful shape as it is! We need her alive, you know!"
"So!?" bit out Rei in her own enraged whisper. "What does it matter if I knock out the idiot for a while? It isn't going to kill her!"
"Rei." came Luna's resigned voice, accompanied with a sigh. "Just pick up Serena so we can go. We're wasting too much time."
"Fine, fine. Ruin all my fun why don't you." the red senshi muttered as she roughly slung the unconscious girl over her shoulder and walked back to the balcony doors. With only another glare in Minako's direction, Rei then jumped out into the night; leaving behind a frowning Luna to make her own way back to the temple.
Neither the soldier nor the guardian paid attention to the blood that began seeping through Serena's uniform shirt and the hidden bandages underneath as they made their way back to the shrine.
The hidden bandages were the only evidence left of Minako and Serena's time together. Neither Rei nor Luna would ever know that Minako had taken great care in bandaging Serena as best as she could and putting healing balm on Serena's abused back.
Nor would they know that Minako had gone to great lengths in trying to hide the bandages, going so far as to remove some of the excess bandages and placing one of her own undershirts underneath Serena's uniform shirt she had washed. The undershirt was the only way to ensure that the remaining bandages wouldn't be seen automatically underneath the white shirt, trying to delay both Rei and Luna's wrath.
They would also never know that Minako had allowed Serena to eat her heart's content, a huge feat considering that Serena had hardly anything to eat in the time she had been there. And they would also never know how many tears Minako had shed as she watched in silence as Serena continually had nightmares of Rei.
Most importantly though, they would never know how many times Minako had had to stop herself from soothing the girl and releasing her to freedom.
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Around the same time that Rei and Luna were walking into Serena's room at Minako's apartment and discovering the extent of the later girl's neglect of her responsibilities, a few blocks away a young man was pacing around his own apartment.
"Something's going to happen." Darien mumbled to himself before he stopped in front of his wall-sized window and stared out. His ocean-blue eyes could not see anything of importance no matter how hard he looked however. What he saw was only the typical quiet life of late night Tokyo, which caused him to release something akin to a growl.
Running a frustrated hand through his raven-colored hair, Darien resumed his pace around the apartment, faster this time. "But the question is, what is going to happen."
Darien was not completely clueless however, no matter how hopeless he felt. It wasn't even ten minutes ago that he had woken up to a strange urgent feeling in his psyche and another in the pit of his stomach. Feelings he had learned were associated with Serena as of late.
Odd feelings themselves we're an unusual occurrence to the black-haired college student. Every time Sailor Moon transformed and headed toward a battle, he was hit with a painful feeling mixed with urgency -how painful and urgent is was determined on how injured and scared Sailor Moon was- that lasted until he could transform into his alter-ego of Tuxedo Mask. Once transformed, there would be a pull in the direction Sailor Moon was in, leading him to the youma battles where he would, more often than not, save the blonde warrior.
Then there were the feelings Darien had been receiving lately. 'Which are strangely similar to those I receive when Sailor Moon is in need.' Darien thought as he paused briefly before continuing in his trek. 'Stop. It's all in your head. You're just worried about Odango, that's all.'
He couldn't stop the stray, rebellious thought as he continued to mull over the urgent feelings though. 'Let's just hope that the amount of urgency and pain I receive isn't related to how scared or hurt Serena is; like how it is with Sailor Moon. That could only mean trouble. It's bad enough that I know Serena has been hurt, otherwise I wouldn't of have the feelings in the first place. But if she's as hurt as bad as I think…. '
Back to the recent feelings though, only a few times had they been strong enough to cause actual pain. And all those times, when he followed the link that tugged him in one direction or another, Darien had been led to dead-ends. No matter how hard he looked or how many times he retraced his steps, he hadn't been able to find anything useful from his searches.
'But these feelings are stronger.' Darien thought with a frown on his face as he glanced out at the unchanging Tokyo scenery. 'They don't have that…hovering quality all the others did. This time, these feelings are more urgent. It's like they're trying to tell me more.'
Usually Darien's feelings were only urgent, making him uneasy and causing him to worry for Serena more as time went on and there hadn't been any signs of her. They were always hovering over the edge of his mind, always there but never of any real help; elusive in their hints.
The feelings he woke up with though, there were more urgent than the normal ones. This time, they were actually trying to push him somewhere, instead of the usual pulling sensation. Wherever they were trying to lead Darien was uncertain however, they were just to chaotic to make sense of. If the raven-haired man let his instincts lead him, there was no telling how many dead-ends he would run into.
"That's it. I can't stand waiting here for something to happen." the man suddenly decided as he stopped pacing. "Whatever's going to happen has to do with Serena. That's enough information for me. I don't care how many dead-ends I run into right now."
Just as Darien was going to flick of his wrist and call forth his transformation rose, he suddenly doubled over it extreme pain, grasping his stomach and head alternately. He didn't even notice how he began to sink down to the ground in his pain, his legs no longer able to handle his weight.
"God." he rasped out as he tried to hold his stomach and head with both hands at the same time. 'It feels like my insides are being twisted inside out while being placed on hot coal.'
Trying to blink past the darkness that was threatening to consume his vision, Darien hurriedly flicked his wrist and let his transformation's golden light wash over him. With an instant sign of relief, the intense pain faded away, only leaving behind a dull throb and a simultaneous urgent pulling and pushing sensation from his heart.
"I sure as hell am going to get behind this. I'm not going to return home until I find Serena." The newly transformed Tuxedo Mask swore to himself, not even fully realizing the sheer determination and concern that radiated from his vow.
Without another thought, Tuxedo Mask raced out of his balcony doors and with a few jumps made his way atop the apartment buildings. Pausing only a few seconds to home in on the direction he was being pulled and pushed in, he dashed off into the night.
It was ten minutes later that he spotted his previously unknown destination- the Cherry Hill Temple. With brows furrowed, Darien tried to recall how he knew the name of the temple. He knew he had never been there before.
'Hmm. Odango's crazy friend, that's where I've heard it! The one who is always batting her eyes at me.' the tuxedo-glad man thought with a grimace. 'What's her name….R-something….Rei; that's it! I remember Odango saying that's where she and the others go for their study sessions.' He paused momentarily in his thoughts to roll his eyes as a smile started to unfurl on his face, even in his somber condition. 'Right. Study sessions. More like gossip sessions.'
When Tuxedo Mask began to stealthily making his way up the steps, his smile fell off his face as he began to wonder why he was being led to Rei's temple. 'Serena couldn't have been there the whole time, could she have? I was never led in this direction before. And more importantly, wouldn't Rei have said something if Serena was here?'
With a sudden murderous look entering his eyes, the tuxedo-clad man hoped for Rei's sake that Serena hadn't been there the whole time. Faster and much angrier this time, the superhero continued up the shrine steps. Tuxedo Mask was only five feet away from the half-way mark of the shrine's steps when he saw something that answered the elusive question of where Serena was.
There, calmly making her way up the steps was Sailor Mars. That in itself was a strange occurrence, but what caused the man to narrow his eyes in suspicion and rage was what was thrown carelessly over her shoulder. An odango-haired girl wearing a very familiar school uniform.
'What the…' Tuxedo Mask began before he was distracted by a red flash of light from Sailor Mars' direction. The shocked man watched in horror as the red light disappeared, revealing Rei calmly continuing her way to her home. He watched as the raven-haired girl hiked up Serena on her shoulder like she was simply a bag of rice as she walked faster up the steps, taking two at a time.
'Did I just see what I thought I did?' the man thought to himself as he stopped dead in his tracks. He was tempted to reach up underneath his mask and rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. 'Rei is Sailor Mars? Well, I guess that would explain their matching explosive attitudes, at least what I've seen of them.'
What finally snapped the man out of his stupor was the pained groan that came from Serena's form and how Rei blissfully ignored it as she continued on her way. Studying Rei closer, Darien saw that she continued to walk with a peaceful smile on her face, happy even. In no way was she showing concern or remorse in the way she was carrying her supposedly friend.
'She did this.' Tuxedo Mask realized as his eyes widened in shock before narrowing in rage. 'That's the only explanation to her behavior. If she didn't do it then she would be more careful with Serena. Not to mention she shouldn't be so peaceful looking since one of her friends is hanging over her shoulder, obviously hurt pretty damn bad .'
Tuxedo Mask quickly brought his scanning to Serena to see how badly she was injured. What he saw caused him to grind his teeth together so he wouldn't start voicing his rather expletive thoughts and threats. He watched as Serena shifted slightly in her sleep, revealing more of her battered face and the cuts in her bloodied uniform.
Narrowing his ocean-blue eyes even further, the man studied Serena more closely. All around Serena's body he saw signs of abuse. He saw some scratches, many bruises shaped like fingers, and lots of cuts throughout the rips in her bloodied uniform.
'What the fuck?' Tuxedo Mask questioned himself, not even caring about his language. 'Why would Rei, who is Sailor Mars, abuse Serena like this? She had better have a damn good explanation. Even that won't save her though.'
It was another pained groan from the odango that snapped the angered man's attention back into focus. 'Damn it. I don't have time for this. I'll deal with what I just saw after I get Serena back. Hang on Odango, I'll kill you if you die on me.'
With that, Tuxedo Mask began to dash up the steps and call out Rei's name. He didn't get much farther than a few steps and opening his mouth for the yell before his world began spinning and darkness was all he knew.
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As Rei was just about to walk the few remaining feet that led to her home's front door, she suddenly heard an enraged shout behind her.
"Unhand my wife right this instant! I said stop damn it!"
The raven-haired priestess thought nothing of it and continued on her way. It was probably just a kidnapper or something on the streets below. She knew that it wasn't rare for sounds to carry up from the street below when it was as quiet as it was in the early mornings.
'Besides', Rei thought with a smile. 'I have more important things to do. Like putting this traitor in her new holding cell. Then after that I can finally get some sleep. It's a good thing that Grandpa left for that priest convention this afternoon while Luna and I were sleeping. I can finally sleep in in the morning for once.'
Rei was so lost in thoughts of her warm, fluffy bed and sleeping the day away in it, that she released a scream when a large hand gripped her shoulder roughly and spun her around.
Suddenly she found herself face to face, or more like face to chest, to a form in resplendent silver and cobalt armor. She didn't even have to look at the person before knowing that he was extremely pissed off at something, or more specifically -her. That fact was proven when a clinking sound and a stinging sensation drew her attention to the gleaming sword that was now being held at her neck threateningly.
'Well, this can't be good.' Rei thought to herself before letting her eyes slowly studying the sword pointing at her neck. Even if it was being held at her neck, she couldn't help but admire how beautiful it was in the moonlight. It was made out of beautiful silver-like material and it had a solitary golden-white dragon spiraling it's way up the sword. Suddenly her eyes were drawn to the dragon's blazing sapphire eyes.
The raven-haired girl couldn't stop the involuntary gasp that escaped from her throat as she watched as a burning gold swept through its eyes, completely overpowering the sapphire. 'Maybe it's a trick of the moonlight. It is dark outside.'
"Bellona." commanded a eerily calm voice, drawing Rei's attention away from the dragon and toward the man. Rei looked up just in time to catch the man's eyes change, exactly like the dragon's. Sapphire blue eyes were drowned out by a blazing gold. Even before they were completely covered with gold though, Rei couldn't help but think that she knew someone with those eyes. 'That couldn't have been a trick too. His eyes just changed color!'
It was too bad that it was dark outside, the shadows were covering most of his face. Only patches of tan skin and raven hair were visible beside those narrowed golden eyes. She bet she would be able to know where she knew those eyes if she could only see his face.
'What is with this guy? And where do I know those eyes from?' Rei thought to herself as she continued to study him, trying to see his features more clearly in the darkness. 'First waving around his sword like he has every right and then that strange thing with his eyes changing. That isn't human, or at the very least he isn't normal.'
"Bellona." came the call again, this time having obvious undertones of extreme rage. Rei winced when the sword was placed more firmly against her neck, almost drawing blood. "Why did you not stop when I commanded you to do so?"
Rei could now feel waves of power wash over her from where she stood, causing her attempt to take a step back. She didn't get very far however, if the door at her back meant anything. The waves of power were incredibly powerful, like nothing she had felt before. This was one time that she wished she didn't have any physic senses, they were going crazy just by standing in front of the man. With a slight wince and waver in her voice, both of which she tried to hide, Rei managed to respond to the strange man.
"Wh-what are you talking about? Who is Bellona?"
"Stop playing games! I told you to release my wife and you disregarded that direct order from me. Remember that promise you made to honor, protect, and obey." the man bit out harshly. It was apparent that he didn't want to take the calm approach anymore, if threatening someone with a sword at their neck was clam in the first place.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about. You're going to have to leave---" Rei began calmly, until she fully registered what the man had said. She grew red with anger as she stared at the man in front of her. "What? Order! Obey! Just who do you think you are?"
'He's a lunatic!' Rei ranted to herself as she completely tuned out the man, not knowing if he even answered her question or not. 'A lunatic with a sword. A powerful sword at that! He's even crazier than the Dark Kingdom generals. The generals…'
With wide eyes, Rei looked at the man more closely. He did seem like a general, now that she considered the possibility. He did have the same maliciousness attitude and kind of incredible power that the generals had. Sure he wasn't dressed in those gray uniforms of theirs, but they had only encountered only two of them. Maybe the armor and sword meant he was higher up in the chain of command. Which would also give reason to why he was undoubtedly more powerful than both previous generals put together. It was very possible.
'But then what's with the talk about a wife? And if he was a general, then shouldn't he have just appeared and began draining my energy without a word?' Even as the more logical portion of Rei's mind pointed out that the man didn't act like either Jadeite or Nephrite, it also pointed out that not all two people were the same. He could very well be a general, this could just be part of his plan. No matter how odd it seemed.
'There's only one way to find out.' Rei thought as she closed her eyes in concentration. They slid back open seconds later when she encountered nothing but his extreme power and rage. She couldn't sense any evil vibes anywhere near or one him.
'He has a mental barrier. I can't detect anything he doesn't want me to.' the priestess realized as she unconsciously shifted the dead weight on her shoulder, unknowingly causing the man's attention to focus on her baggage momentarily with soft eyes.
The girl herself didn't pay any attention to the girl when she released a pain groan, but the man did. The eyes that were beginning to lose their golden luster blazed back to life, snapping his anger back to the girl in front of him.
Rei gasped -caught off guard- when the sword was pressed deeper into her neck, drawing blood this time. She winced when the man carelessly dragged the sword across her neck, causing a thin line to swell up with blood. She felt it as a few drops of blood escaped and ran down her neck unhindered. She glared back at the man's eyes defiantly, not daring to give him the satisfaction of seeing her giving in and wiping the blood away. She was not going to back down to some Dark Kingdom general. She was Sailor Mars, damn it!
"Unhand my wife, Bellona." repeated the man harshly as he glowered at the girl. "You need to stop acting so foolish and hand her over to my care."
"Listen to me, you lunatic." bit out Rei in her own harsh voice as her violet eyes meet his golden ones dead on. "My name is Rei, not Bellona. And I certainly don't have your wife with me. As I was going to say earlier, you will have to leave or I'll call the authorities. This is private property from 11:45 P.M. to 3:00 AM." Rei finished in a dismissing manner, as if she wasn't being threatened with a sword at her neck anymore. She may not be able to transform in order to preserve her identity but she still had her senshi honor to uphold.
"I think I can identify my own wife Bellona." the man declared coldly as he put emphasis on her name. Rei rolled her eyes exasperated, causing the strange general to tighten his hold on the gleaming sword at her neck. Looking closer Rei thought that it seemed to be gaining a steady glow and a more powerful aura but she couldn't be sure.
"I would know Sere anywhere in the universe and you ought to be able to identify her as well." the man continued on, glaring at Rei hatefully. "If you cannot then I suggest that someone immediately strip you of all your powers because you aren't fit to have them."
Rei just looked at the man carefully blank, letting none of her thoughts show on her face. 'He can't be implying what I think he is! No, think rationally Rei.' the girl chastened herself with a mental slap, trying to stop her panicking. 'He's a general remember? Part of all their plans has been to find the sailor senshi's true identities. He's just trying to get you to slip up.'
"In case you still cannot figure out who I am talking about, my wife is the woman you currently have carelessly thrown over your shoulder." the man said, his voice echoing more rage than ever now. "And by those scorch marks on her arms and legs, also the woman that you have been using as target practice."
That was the message that caused Rei's lips to twitch and her to begin chuckling. "What!? Now I know for a fact that you have the wrong people. What powers are you talking about? And Serena, being your wife? This blonde ditz, of all people? You're crazy. Just leave please, it's late."
Rei didn't get much farther than that because she convulsed into laughs, causing the girl on her shoulder to get jousted every other second and release more painful groans and whimpers. 'God, he can't even come up with a good lie.' Rei thought with a giggle. 'That's so pathetic on his part.'
It was a golden hand that shocked Rei out of her thoughts, literally. She couldn't see the actual hand that was almost completely wrapped around her neck, but it was there without a doubt. She could see the soft golden light that was radiating off of it and she could feel the pain the light as it burned her skin and the painful grip of the hand itself, digging into her neck wound. She tried in vain to see the general's sword, but it was no where in sight.
"Of course I will leave you alone. You are entitled to your privacy Bellona and I will not disrupt you anymore. " the man said calmly, no visible traces of anger in his voice anymore. Rei could still see his eyes glaring at her however, meaning he was angry still. "Before I leave you however, I would like my wife back. She is not safe anywhere near your person any longer. I know for a fact that you abused her with your powers and that she is in great pain currently. Believe what you will but I know the truth so I suggest you hand over Sere and stay out of my way. If you do not my sword may accidentally manage to slit your throat and we wouldn't want that to happen now, would we?"
It was as if the last sentence was all that was needed for Rei's attention to be brought back to the general's sword. Slowly he lifted his hand up and pressed his sword above his hand, against Rei's chin, causing her to wince once more but momentarily stop her struggling. With a sudden thoughtful look, the general brought his sword to Rei's cheek and cut it in the same way he did her neck, only vertical instead. It was not a major cut and nothing that would scar, but something that would last as a reminder of their encounter for a few days.
The girl's violet eyes were instantly drawn to the dragon on the sword again. She couldn't help but think that the golden-white dragon was taunting her with its burning eyes, silently mocking her inability to protect herself from the general. Eyes narrowed in fury, Rei looked square into the man's own burning eyes.
"Listen here buddy, I don't care what you believe but what gives you the right to come to my home, insult me, and the order me around as if you know me or are in charge of me?!" she half-wheezed half-ranted angrily as she continued to struggle in the general's hold. She knew that the clouds that had been covering the moon moved when she caught sight of his wildly twitching jaw and the frown on his face.
Rei didn't have any warning besides that wildly twitching jaw and his hard set eyes before Serena was grabbed from her shoulder and herself blasted with a ball of golden energy, making her fly backwards and crashing into a chair inside her living room, breaking it as she landed.
The raven-haired girl frantically scrambled back up to her feet when another golden-charged hand came out of seemingly nowhere and wrapped itself around her neck. Once again it burned and dug into her wound while cutting off her precious air supply, much harder this time.
Desperation crawled its way into Rei's mind. Frantically she reached up and began to claw at the hand as she struggled to breathe and not cry out but it did no good; his hand just tightened in reply to her struggling.
"You listen and you listen good. I have every right to tell you what to do and I expect every order I give you to be carried out. I do not know what is wrong with you or why you are acting in this manner but just be glad that I am not considering your actions tonight to be acts of treason." the man hissed furiously in her ear. "You had better get yourself back in order and give a very sincere apology to both myself and Sere or you are going to wish that you had never even raised your voice in anger toward me, let alone insulting my person and that of my wife's. Do I make myself clear?"
When the mysterious man backed up, he looked into Rei's face and loosened up his hold on her neck so she could give her answer. Rei made sure he knew what she thought loud and clear. The raven-haired girl spat as much as she could into his face and kicked his stomach with all her might. The murderous look that entered his eyes soon after was enough to make her flinch in fear but, unfortunately for her, he didn't even flinch from her assault on him, he stayed as steady as a stone.
When the general snapped Rei's head into the wall immediately afterwards, it was enough for her to see stars and for darkness to start drowning into her vision. Rei was already in bad shape from his chocking and the cut was stinging something fierce and that blow did not help one bit, but she was determined to fight her way through this. Transformed or not, she was a senshi.
"Let go of me!" Rei yelled angrily as the desperation continued to crawl in her mind. She continued to kick and claw at the man but it didn't do any good. "I haven't done anything to you or Serena so let me go!"
The enraged man practically threw Rei through the wall when he snapped her head back into the wall once again. The desperation continued to claw at her mind, even when she had to stop because the man's powerful aura began to suffocate her as well as his hand around her neck.
His aura was so powerful, making her sick to the stomach and continuously cringing. She hadn't thought this general could get anymore powerful but she was wrong. Every second that passed, he grew angrier and his power increased with it, giving her psychic senses an overload.
Rei almost cried with relief when the general took a step back before taking a deep calming breath. Sliding down to the ground while rubbing her raw neck, she watched as the now visible blazing aura and power surrounding the general shrunk back to him, disappearing as he called it inside. She couldn't see anymore before she convulsed into a coughing fit, the lack of air finally catching up on her.
"You're lucky that I decided to be merciful with you Bellona." came the general's calm voice once more, cutting through the haze Rei's coughs caused. Bleary violet eyes glanced at the general retreating form as he walked toward the odangoed-girl on her living room couch.
'Is that where he moved her? How could he have moved that fast though? So he grabbed Serena, blasted me, must have moved her, then chocked me again a second later? That's not humanly possible. He has to be a general.'
"With all the damage done I see on Sere, you and whoever else is responsible should be beheaded. Fortunately for you, Sere loves you as a sister. She also needs to be taken care of immediately and I don't have the time to deal with you and your incompetence any longer." the general stated heatedly as he turned to Rei, golden eyes glaring with venom. "Just remember that if you do not get your act together, I will be back and nothing can save you."
Rei watched with hatred in her own eyes as the general sheathed his sword in the sheath that she hadn't even noticed was at his waist. Gently he unfastened his cape before wrapping it around Serena's form like a blanket. He then lifted Serena up and walked slowly toward the door, making sure not to jounce Serena too much as he walked.
With a flare of strength, Rei summoned a fireball in her hand and flung it toward the general. She watched in utter shock as the general easily sidestepped the blast, all without even showing the slightest hint that he knew she threw it.
She knew he did though. Before she could even blink, the general turned around and made a fist with his hand all the while golden light surging into again. He then made a punching motion toward her, causing the light in his hand to charge toward her in the shape of an energy ball, essentially what it was.
'So that's how he summoned that energy ball.' thought Rei before the incoming ball crashed into her stomach, knocking her into the wall. With a scream of pain, Rei lost consciousness, watching while the general turned around and continued to carry Serena out the door without another word.
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"Do the reading Merc." urged a quiet voice of a green-clad senshi. She glanced around soundlessly as her companion reached into her subspace pocket for her computer. So far, no one had noticed the two senshi on the fifth story balcony of an apartment building.
It was only minutes before that the two had finally reached Minako's apartment to initiate their plan. They had spent all day going over everything, anything that could possibly go wrong while munching on Makoto's baked goodies. It was finally around 5pm that they decided that they thought of every possible thing that could go wrong. From an unexpected youma battle to a snowstorm in the middle of this November month, that had it all covered.
After Ami left a quick message on her and her mother's answering machine, informing her mother she was spending the night over at Makoto's apartment, both girl's fell asleep around 6:30 after a quick bite for dinner.
Now here they were 7 hours later, at 1:30am, standing on Minako's apartment balcony waiting to break in so they could kidnap back one of their best friends from their ex-best friends. 'Only this kind of thing would happen to us.' Sailor Jupiter thought with a smirk, trying to contain her laugh. It was the beeping sound of her friend's computer that sobered her up.
Turning to her friend, she saw the frown on the blunette senshi's face as she stared at the small screen strangely. With her own frown, she leaned over the smaller girl's shoulder to see the computer.
"So, what's the verdict, Merc?" Sailor Jupiter questioned. "Are they all here or what?"
"There's no one here." Sailor Mercury said as she glanced at her friend with disbelieving eyes. "I'm not picking up any readings, there's nothing recent."
"Your computer's got to be broken, Mercury." Jupiter said seriously as she glanced at the still closed balcony door in front of her. "They have to be here."
When the genius shook her head before going to type more information in her computer, Jupiter's frown deepened. Turning back toward the door, she made the motion of pushing sleeves up and marched the few paces toward the door. Looking through the door and checking the lock, she saw that it wasn't securely fastened inside.
With a quick jiggle of the handle and wiggle of the door, the lock unfastened itself and the brunette easily slid the door open. Quickly glancing behind her, she saw Mercury still typing in information while mumbling "That can't be right. Percentage should be lower."
Rolling her eyes, she went to her friend, snatched the computer away, and pulled the quietly protesting senshi inside the apartment. "Come on, Mercury. There's only one way to check to see if your computer is right or not."
It was ten minutes later that a distraught Sailor Jupiter stood in the middle of Minako's living room with a quiet Sailor Mercury beside her. All around them was evidence that someone had been there recently. A movie menu was still on the TV, piles of watched DVDs next on the other side of the couch, an ice cream tub and a spoon a few feet away, and a remote on the couch; all evidence that someone had been there.
In Mercury's hands were a few bloody bandages she had found underneath a bed in one of the bedrooms. Just more evidence that someone had been here. The problem was that they weren't there anymore, they had been gone for an hour at least. Too long gone for Mercury to pick up anything on her scanning.
This wasn't something they had planned for, much less expected.
Serena was gone.
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7/16/07 Posted: 7/19/07
All right everyone, yet another chapter done! You'll notice the small time frame between this chapter and the previous. Why is it so small you may ask? Because I was working on them at the same time. And let me tell you, I'm not going to do that again!
Last chapter, you might of seen my little note: "Yes, I know that Tokyo is a very crowded, busy city; no matter the time or day. But in my own little universe, Tokyo is like dead silent at night, hardly anyone about. But yes, like all cities there are still people about. As seen with the drunken men Rei and Luna were almost caught by."
A few of you were probably wondering, What the hell? What drunk men and what did they almost catch Rei and Luna doing? Well you see, that was meant for this chapter. Sorry for any confusion everyone; I got mixed up on what was where in the chapters!
All right everyone, what did you all think of this chapter? I bet you didn't expect Endymion's appearance. But that was what inspired everything. I just had this scene of a civilian Rei carrying an unconscious Serena, all the while Endymion's sword digging into her neck! It was awesome and I just had to develop it from that. But no one could ever have guessed that this chapter was originally chapter 5Boy has the story evolved since then.
Anyways, I'm rambling here. So, Ami and Makoto went for Serena, yet no one was there when they got there. We know where Rei, Luna, and Serena went but what about Minako? Where did she disappear to and why didn't see give into temptation and release Serena? What's going through that golden-covered head of hers?
Oh yes, about the confrontation between Rei and Endymion. It was really dark out, so at no time did Rei see Endy's full features. She just saw his blue eyes before they changed and felt that they were the same as someone she knew. (which is Darien of course but she doesn't realize that). Also, Rei does really believe that he is one of the Dark Kingdom generals. She is absolutely positive and convinced of that fact. (If I was in her position, I would believe that too. I mean, a insanely powerful guy that displayed non-human/non-normal abilities while threatening to kill you. What else would you think?)
Also, since Rei left Luna at Minako's to make her own way back, Luna wasn't there to see the general or see him taking Serena away. She is a cat you know. She doesn't have the speed of a senshi.
On the note of Darien's ramblings before Endy shows up, yes Darien does know that Sailor Mars is Rei now. I will admit that he is going to be too caught up with Serena to worry about that for now though, so he will be kinda…blah about the whole thing for a few chapters.
Yes, in my story Rei does have a crush on Darien. He just sees her as Odango's annoying friend that bats her eyes at him though, nothing serious. They haven't dated and never will in my story. As you all probably saw with his thoughts toward her though. Threats and everything. Hehehe.
Only a few more things to say about this story then I'll leave you all alone.
1. Endymion possess, I guess you can say, Darien's body. It will be explained later, it was supposed to be in this chapter (along with Luna's reaction) but it would have been too long. But he does possess Darien's body. When Darien returns to being Darien, he won't remember what happens when he was Endymion. Vise versa too, when Darien's Endymion he doesn't remember his life as Darien.
2. You'll notice that Endymion only called Serena (or Serenity depending on how you look at it) my wife or Sere. This is on purpose on my behalfso Rei wouldn't catch Serena's real identity. It is also the reason Serena is Serena in my story, not Usagi or Bunny.
A nickname for both Serenity and Serena is Sere, making them interchangeable and unable to tell there is a difference; good for hiding identities. Then Darien is called Darien and not Mamoru, because well, I prefer Darien and also because it would seem weird if I only used one English name in the story (plus there might be something else later on, but it's undecided for now). There you are! I know that a few of you were wondering why I hadn't used the names Usagi and Mamoru when I used names like Makoto and Minako and that's my answer.
3. "Bellona was an Ancient Roman war goddess. She is believed to be one of the numinous gods of the Romans (without a particular mythology and possibly of Etruscan origin), and is supposed by many to have been the Romans' original war deity, predating the identification of Mars with Ares. She accompanied Mars into battle and is taken variously as his sister, wife or daughter. She is portrayed with a helmet, sword, spear, and torch."
That just screamed Rei to me when I was looking up War Goddesses and it stuck onto the story.
4. Please tell me how you thought of Rei's and Endymion's confrontation. I know that Rei deserved more of a beating, but I tried to facture in some things. Like Serena has always considered all her friends as sisters, including Rei. (Even in the Silver Millennium! hint hint) and Endymion was pretty damn preoccupied with Serena and her condition.
I thought her beating was pretty good though. She had major cuts on her cheek and neck, sick to her stomach cause of the man's power was too powerful for her psychic senses, probably a concussion from being knocked into the wall so hard, not once but twice. Plus she was knocked down with two energy ball, one causing her to lose consciousness.
Nonetheless, tell me what you think! Was Endymion better than those wimpy clichés out there about him or not?
Tiger Celeste