Moonlight Midnight Glory

By Michelle Harris aka Lady M. Harris

Clash

Chapter 11

Planet of Sapphire...

"Where am I?" Serena said to herself as she looked around the dark room. She sat up in the large bed, her head groggy, and her limbs feeling like lead. She rubbed her sore neck as she thought back to the events leading up to the present. The last thing she remembered was Chorn trying to choke the life out of her as they went through total blackness. He had hollered at her not to try any of her powers on him. Anything she tried would only reflect off him and kill her. Tears of frustration had run down her cheeks as she felt her life force begin to slip away.

Only she hadn't died. Instead, she had passed out from the lack of air. She was stuck somewhere in a dark room and in a place that she did not recognize. She wasn't even dressed in the same clothes that she had arrived in. Somehow, someone had managed to change her into a long, black velvet dress. There was a long slit on either side of the dress that showed off her bare, shapely legs. It had a halter neckline with sheer black gauze covering her arms and chest. A diamond choker was wrapped round her neck and matching, diamond bracelets round her wrists. Even diamond drop earrings adorned her earlobes. Serena fumed. She was in a black dress in an elegant black room, but God knows where she thought.

Unsteady on her feet, she managed to make it out onto the balcony to look at the dark clouds that gathered behind the angry sea-breakers that crashed against the high cliffs far below the balcony. The room as apparently connected to a large and obviously gloomy looking castle where nothing but a vast and unforgiving ocean greeted the small piece of land where the castle sat upon. The cool winds brought the smell of the sea to her. She shivered as the chilly air breezed at her legs as she walked back into the room. She could see no other land near them. Somehow, she knew that Chorn had gotten her to the planet Sapphire. So much for thinking that the planet was the color of Sapphire blue; Sapphire was the darkest and angriest color of a deep, velvet green and stark brown bordered by gray and black colors.

Obviously, Serena was being held prisoner. How was she going to get out of this God forsaken place? She didn't even know where to begin. She tried using her powers, but for some reason they didn't seem to work. It was like the room prohibited everything she tried. She knew she was too far away to mentally communicate with Darien. There was no response from her mother.

A sense of frustration welled up within her. Then she pushed aside the feeling of hopelessness. She wondered if everyone was all right. She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she blinked them back as she brought herself back under control. Somehow, someway, she was going to escape from this place. She felt like she couldn't breathe, the place reeked of perpetuating evilness.

She began to pace the room, trying desperately to think of a way out when she heard a woman screeching at the top of her lungs. Then the ground beneath her shoes began to shake.

"Bring her here now!" The words were so clearly spoken and filled with such utter rage; that Serena knew instantly who the voice belonged to. It raged on, "how dare you return here without the Silver Crystal and bring that sniveling, little snot here!"

Queen Sapphire.

She could not make out Chorn's reply, but she knew he was in a heap of trouble.

"You will return to Earth with her and bring back that crystal, or you will suffer the consequences!" Queen Sapphire raged. "Bring her to me now, Chorn!"

Then she heard him. Calling out to her, like a lost, forgotten dream, "Serena...Serena...!"

Darien!

"Damn it all! Answer me!" His raspy, hard voice echoed into her head.

How? How was he able to get here when all of her futile attempts to leave were thwarted by the castle itself? The questions, however, didn't stop the sudden piercing ray of hope that shot through her. It seemed utterly inconceivable that she could hear him in her mind, winding through her inner turmoil, guiding her toward him, leading her to his welcoming, golden light.

"Darien? Darien...I'm in here!" She cried out suddenly, going to the locked door. Desperate, she tried opening it again, but as usual, it wouldn't give.

"Serena?" It seemed impossible, but then there he was, right outside of her door.

"Darien? Oh my God! I can't get out! It's locked and I can't use any of my powers to force it open!" She cried out again, unable to control the panic rising within her.

"Alright, just calm down!" He called back to her, softly. "Stand back and give me some room!"

"What?" Her teeth tugged at her lower trembling lip.

"Just do it!" he ordered, impatiently.

"Okay, okay!" She answered indigently, her cheeks fusing with warmth, flushing them red. She suddenly felt more like herself.

There was a loud crackle and a low hiss, followed by a retched smell rising from the doorknob as it practically melted before her widened eyes. And then, miraculously the door opened. She cried out as she flew into his outstretched arms.

"Serena...shusssh," she heard him rasp hoarsely into her hair. His grip was tender, despite how tight his embrace was. She wanted nothing more than to hold him forever as she trembled within his arms.

"Are you all right?" He asked her after a moment, staring deeply into her silver eyes, his gaze probing and searching. His eyes grew hard and his mouth thinned as he became aware of what she wearing.

Serena couldn't fathom what the hard look meant, so instead she shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts and to keep from sobbing out loud like a royal baby. "No, I'm fine." She felt helpless, like a lost doe in unfamiliar territory, as she probed those treacherous dark eyes of his, as if she were trying to memorize them. "How were you able to use your powers in here?" She asked, more than puzzled now.

His lips curled in a decidedly wicked smile as he slowly opened his hand. She was unable to stop the gasp. There, in his hand, glittering like a thousand-splintered gems but quite intact as one jewel—was like the largest diamond nature had ever seen fit to forge.

"The Silver Millennium Crystal!" She gaped with awe unable to comprehend how he had managed obtain the magical stone of mystery. Not only that, but that he casually handled the gem when no other but her or another designated user could touch it. All others who were not deemed worthy to touch the gem would wither and perish at its first contact. It was beautiful beyond imagination, but it seems that even with beauty comes a price—as does with this gem.

Rays and rays of glimmering light from the gem bathed the gloomy walls, a kaleidoscope of colors shimmered within the room despite its natural darkness, "How—how did you...?" She breathed breathlessly, her silver eyes probing, her thoughts tumbling with questions unspoken.

"Later Serena, when there's time," he said as he pulled her through the door and into the dark, winding hallway. "When this is all over I'll explain everything, I promise."

It was then they heard Queen Sapphire's voice screech through the castle walls. "My portals! Someone has breeched my portals! No one is allowed to open them but me!" She continued, raging on.

"Chorn! Damn you! Come back here and find out who has entered my domain without my permission!" Queen Sapphire bellowed out.

Darien swore under his breath. They started towards Sapphire's raging voice, guiding them towards the unknown.

Serena pulled back hesitantly, her body visibly trembling. "Darien—please! I can't do this!" She cried out softly with fear. Torches barely lit the hallway, but the voice before them seemed larger than life, ranting on and on in its tremendous power. She couldn't move, didn't want to move. "I don't want to go near her!"

"Serena..." Darien's gaze grew soft as he watched her silently, perfectly understanding the fear that was trapped within her. He understood quite well, oh yes he did—it was the same kind of fear he wrestled with on a daily basis—with himself. Even with all the powers he had been born with, the kind of subtle and raw power that bordered undue quiet respect and that only Queen Serenity was aware he harbored; they seemed quite useless at the moment of this impending doom. It was the kind of fear where you felt quite powerless, unable to protect the ones around you; those loved ones whom meant the most to you.

"We will face her together or we might as well surrender to her. You're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for, Silver One. Let's do this together; because together is all we have."

And then his gaze grew imperiously hard, slanting with that ironic determination that she had often found exasperating and yet lately she had come to concede with irritating fondness. She took his stretched hand and sealed their fate—be it for better or for worse. Her eyes traveled up the length of their tightly clenched hands, their gazes fusing, their thoughts mingling, becoming as one. She could feel her pulses leap with excruciating fire as goose bumps rose on the flesh of her arms.

In the dank, cold corridors, she could feel the warmth his deep, blue gaze touch the core of her soul, causing her toes to curl up on the hard stone floors.

Her Soul Mate. He was hers for an eternity, for whatever time that meant to the fates. And even though he didn't say it, was a man of few words, this man loved her. She knew it, instinctively, the same way; a mother knows the sound of her newborn's cry. And someday, she would get him to admit it to himself and then, finally, to her.

Someday.

But someday, wouldn't come if Queen Sapphire won. Her resolve grew as her hand grasped his in a tight clench. For a moment longer their gazes held, both lost to the moment, their feelings for one another for once, unguarded and open. And then, they were running, running to face the battle of their lives.

"Who goes there?" Chorn shouted at the couple running toward him. "Serena?" He gaped as he recognized her silvery hair. "You!" Chorn exclaimed in shock as his gaze settled on the furious Darien, "it was you who opened the portals?" Then his eyes grew black with immense hate for the other man standing before him, holding the woman he so coveted.

But Chorn never had a chance to raise his hand against his adversary for Darien wasted no more than a hair's breath to blast him with a piercing blaze of blue energy.

Serena only had a moment's warning, her exclamation of surprise upon them running across Chorn and Darien's instant deadly retribution. The burst of energy blinded her eyes for a heartbeat and then it was gone. Gone too, was Chorn.

Darien stared at the spot where Chorn had once been, his features granite and impassive, his eyes aloof. It never gave way to his coherent thoughts, thoughts of Chorn suffering endlessly at his merciless hands. But there was only one person who deserved such generous treatment and she was only moments from his grasp.

Queen Sapphire's shrieking voice oscillated in the stone walls as she ordered her attendants to leave her. They followed the sound of her screeching to a vast and bleak throne room. The dark, heavy wooden doors swung open quietly upon their approach. With her back turned to them, they were able to easily enter the room without a sound. She spun around at the sound of quiet footsteps and gasped with surprised outrage as she stared down at the couple.

Sapphire's mad gaze settled on the Prince of Earth and her eyes grew wide with feminine appreciation. How absolutely magnificent he was! Why would such a splendid specimen of a man be with that sniveling, little bitch Princess Serena, she seethed with jealously. If only he would rule at her side!

"You dare to enter here!" Queen Sapphire snapped, her brittle gaze swung maliciously in the direction toward Serena. "How dare you! No one could have broken my sealed portals so easily. There's only one person other than myself who could have even dared such a feat…" Sapphire mused slowly, her gaze narrowing on Serena, a cryptic smile beginning to play about on her rouged lips. "Perhaps, the dearly departed Queen Serenity had something to do with my portals opening—"

"Y-you killed my mother?" Serena stammered out with shocked horror. It wasn't true! Noooo! Her mind blanked, numbed to such a thought. She looked at Darien for confirmation, who only nodded solemnly in return. Sudden tears welled up in her eyes, the onslaught of the pain tearing through her body at an unbelievable rate. How could this be? Her mother! Gone! It wasn't possible, her mind cried out in denial. How could this despicable evil being, who had no regard for life stand there so smugly and impassively, be proud of her achievements? Serena felt violently ill to her stomach.

Queen Sapphire laughed with relish contempt, "your mother, a planet here or there. Really! What difference does it make?" She twittered pleasantly, shrugging her shoulders dispassionately. "You're next on my agenda, little princess. So don't you go no where now. I'm in the process of finishing off Earth..." Sapphire stated nonchalantly, slanting a sly glance at Darien.

"But perhaps, I can be persuaded to deter if so prompted..." She suggested casting another smile in the direction of the stoic Darien. "I am, after all, a ruler to a powerful nation of people—not to mention a planet. And you would always know where you stand with me…" she drawled, her voice deep and sultry. "And…" she paused smiling again, weaving her web of enticement, "I'm beautiful to boot, don't you agree?" As she finished, she waved an arm and within a blink, her regular armor changed into an emerald, glittering seductive evening gown. Her burgundy hair, originally braided into tight warrior-like coils now hung wavy, loose and flowing over her shoulders and down her back.

Oh to have a lover like him, she thought with glee! She would use the Prince of Earth until she grew tired of him. Men were so easily cast off, just like worn out armor. But she hesitated in her demented musings, for the Prince did not seem to be the type of man whom one could easily discard when one grew tired of the game.

The wave of grief passed over Serena as she listened to Queen Sapphire's speech with something akin to disbelief and then to laughable horror. The fact that the woman had the audacious nerve to believe that Darien would even dream of abandoning his planet to rule along her side! The disbelief turned into apprehension as Sapphire revealed a side of her that was clearly dazzling as well as starkly beautiful.

But Serena understood the simmering glances thrown in Darien's direction. Had she not seen it on the faces of other women, the naked desire to have Darien for their own? That this ugly—yes ugly her mind tried to justify, evil old hag could want him for herself filled her with a cold sort of rage. The anger blossomed within her, bringing to the surface an old hate, born from deep within the pits of her heritage, something would she would never admit to, not even to herself since it showed how vulnerable her race really was to hate.

Yes, it was an age-old hate for the people of Sapphire and that this icon represented everything that her people had tried to do against the planet of Sapphire and that was to protect and cherish all those underneath their allegiance. It was to the planets whom were under the protection of the Silver Millennium rule whom she owed her life to and to the future generations who would come after her. And this woman who thought she could do as she pleased, rob the planets of their freedom, take the countless lives of those who got in her way and all in the name of power!

"You are a royal bitch!" Serena answered for Darien, her silver gaze blazed with unguarded hatred. So be it, her mind rationalized, she would be the only one to whom their enemy would see its true intensity.

"I am, aren't I?" Queen Sapphire laughed heartily. Her green eyes flickered with answering malevolence. "So the little princess has a backbone, do we?" She purred sarcastically.

"Yes, I do. And in the name of the Moon Kingdom, I, no—" Serena checked herself, glancing at Darien's stony face, "we will punish you!"

"Not before I destroy you, you puny princess!" Queen Sapphire yelled back, flinging out an arm as a powerful beam of light blazed from her fingers. Serena screamed, ducking out of the way, even as Darien retaliated with a burst of his own power. Queen Sapphire screamed as the blast hit her on her side, the impact throwing her up against her stone throne.

She lay there stunned for a moment before picking herself up slowly like a battered, rag doll.

"Where are my guards? Why aren't they here to defend me" Sapphire shrieked, the anger causing her body to tremble in rage as she brought herself up to her full regal height, her pretty, evening gown now in tatters.

"They won't help you, even if they could! I've sealed them away from you, Sapphire," Darien bellowed back at her, his voice deep, ringing loud and clear through out the cavernous throne room. "I promise to make it short and sweet for you," he suddenly mocked ominously, his lips tightening into a thin, dangerous smile.

Queen Sapphire's eyes narrowed shrewdly. How dare he smile so callously at her, as if he had gazed into the death's laughing face and won!

But for once in her life, she felt fear—stone, cold, hard real fear, could solidly smell it pouring carelessly from her pores like a leaky faucet. However, she knew the Prince of Earth's weakness! How eternally easy it really was, she suddenly laughed inwardly. Her smile turned maliciously evil and cruel as her gaze turned toward Serena with infinite casualness. Her smile turned gleefully wide as victory's winning hand was within her grasp. His precious stupid, little princess!

With a sense of impending dread, Darien watched Sapphire's gaze fixate toward Serena, who had just risen from the floor with unsteady limbs. All of the sudden his mind screamed out to her to move out Queen Sapphire's line of sight. Jolted by the piercing yell in her head, Serena stared back at him apparently paralyzed in frozen fear. Queen Sapphire screeched with triumph laughter as a powerful beam erupted from her outstretched hands.

Oh God, I'm too late, his mind screamed. He leapt forward toward Serena, shouting at her to move and to move fast.

The beam blasted Serena on her chest, throwing her clear across the throne room. She slammed into a tall column, her head banging against the stone with a loud thud that resounded throughout the room. Stunned, Serena slowly raised her head, it suddenly felt as if it weighed far more than her shoulders could bear. She gazed dazedly over at Darien. His eyes grew huge with horrified disbelief as he finally comprehended what was below her chest. Serena could not understand why Queen Sapphire continued to laugh so.

With a sudden realization of bewilderment and doom, Serena stared down at her chest, the bloody, gapping wound where her chest should have been began spurting bright red blood, her life force draining easily from her as if flood gates had been opened.

Nooooo! Her mind wailed with terror as excruciating pain so unbearable ripped through her like a bolt of lightening. Her eyes rolled up, her breath snatched from her and then everything went black.

"NOooooo!" Darien screamed, his howl of pain echoing throughout the huge castle walls. It tore through him, cutting at him so deeply like a sharp, jagged blade meant for tormenting the mind and flesh. He keeled over and landed on his knees, his body contorting in oblivious pain.

As his voice dwindled from hoarse cries of misery to mere whispers of despair; the Silver Crystal, however forgotten, sparked and twitched like that of an awakening sparkler, and began to glow in his hand. It slipped unconsciously from Darien's carelessly clenched fingers. It flew to where Serena's body lay slumped over in a bloody heap, hovering like a bumble bee inspecting a luscious flower for its pollen. It waited patiently for its audience to take notice of it.

"What the hell?" Queen Sapphire's crazy chuckles faltered in confusion, staring with disbelief at the glowing crystal.

Despite the wrenching pain in Darien, he glanced up at the startled sound of Queen Sapphire's voice. Before Serena's body, the Silver Millennium Crystal floated like a glowing ball as it seemed to grow brighter as each passing second, until it bathed the entire throne room in its soothing light. Then for some unknown reason then its own reasoning, it split into two separate gem pieces. At the blink of an eye, one piece shot into Darien's chest, a stunned grunt erupting from him as his chest resisted the invading intruder and then as if his chest had a mind of its own; it swallowed the stone whole like burning liquid. The other crystal flew into the gapping hole that used be Serena's chest. The flesh of her skin began to heal like molten lava, repairing skin tissue, meta-morphing and metabolizing cells, and muscles, closing the oozing wound within seconds of entering her body. The bright and glowing lights of the crystals dwindled and disappeared completely as they were submerged within the two human forms.

Serena's eyes blinked cautiously open. She should been dead, she thought hysterically as panic raced through her blood. She looked hesitantly down at her bloody chest, fearing the sight that would greet her. Dimly with a sense of displacement, she could hear Queen Sapphire still raging in the background. But her chest was appeared solid, intact and whole. She touched it with a sense of unreality; her hands trembling as they moved over her flesh with incredulity.

"Darien!" She cried out to him, making her way to him on shaky legs. He still sat back on his heels, just as a stunned as her.

"Serena?" His voice husky, he was still in shock. He reached for her, clasping her slight form against him, not wanting to let her go. As of their own accord, their hands threaded together. They were unaware of the gold and silver glow that began to emit from their bodies. The glow intensified, the light no longer soft and soothing but strong and piercing in its powerful surge. It surged and surged, rocking and pulling at everything it eclipsed within its own paramount beams of power.

"Nooooo! This can't be!" Queen Sapphire screamed in denial, her voice resonated loudly in defeat as she was blasted into the dark void of nothingness.

The beams of light continued its onward expansion, not sparing one dark crevice or corner unturned until it completely encompassed the entire planet. The invading light of power proved too much for the oppressive planet as it shuddered like an enveloping earthquake, bucking up its earthly plates and erupting unforetold volcanoes. The beams of light pierced the center core of the planet, cleanly slicing the middle in half. Causing the core to explode inwardly; it blasted forward out with a tremendous force as the planet came to its exudates end.

"Hold my hand! And whatever you do, don't let go of it!" Darien shouted to her above the noise of the exploding planet. He had grabbed onto her and with all the life force within him, prayed that he had real powers within him to save them both. Then unbelievably, they were floating over the exploding planet, the crystal within him lending him its power to fly and somehow protecting them from outer space. He had to get them away from the planet and to back Earth. In the great and airless distance, he saw his answer—Earth. No sooner than they had started moving away from Sapphire before they felt an inexplicable tremendous push of waves rush outward toward them and beyond like invisible tidal waves.

Serena stared at the passing planets with wondrous wide eyes. Space was eerily silent with no air rushing through them, but somehow she could hear sound of their harsh breathing.

Her hand was getting tired of gripping his. It began to slake despite her best efforts to hold on as tightly as she could.

"I can't hold on, Darien!" Serena cried out as they plunged through space. She could feel the sweat beading on her forehead and where their hands met. As they passed over Mars, it seemed as if the entire galaxy shuddered. Planet Sapphire exploded one last time. Deadly pieces of it rushed toward them as waves of energy rippled outwards like a pond disrupted by a large stone.

"Don't let go!" Darien shouted again as more waves caused by explosion hurdled through them as they reached the outer atmosphere of Earth. A large piece of the former world slammed into them, its impact knocking them apart. They crashed into the Earth's atmosphere like a ball of fire despite the Silver Millennium crystals protecting them.

As they fell toward Earth, Serena's mind recapped a kaleidoscope of her most memorable moments of her life. As if it were yesterday, she remembered herself, Darien, Mina and Kunzite as they were preparing to leave Darien's home, the palace. She recalled transforming her silver eyes and hair to that bold auburn color with matching flashy green eyes. Her body instantly reacted to her memories by obeying what her mind was seeing and reverting back to those colors. How could not she remember Kunzite's stunned expression as she and Mina tried to stifle their laughter at his bewildered look? She could hardly forget Darien's disgusted reaction to her cheeky behavior either. The scenes seem to flow like an endless brook, one after another until they trickled slower and slower as she began to loose consciousness and then she knew no more after that.

To be continue…!