A/N: Ok... the moment of truth! Will they get away? Find out!

Disclaimer: All rights are reserved to Naoko. I do not own Sailor Moon, but the story is all my creation.

Summery: It had all happened by chance, me discovering Elf City. It had all happened by chance, me falling for the Lord. It had all happened by chance, me being human and unable to be in a world I want to be in most... Or did it?


Elf Dawned Book 1: By Chance...

Chapter 11:

The next person I saw who didn't glare daggers at me was Andrew, who had strolled in through the gates up front. His hair was tangled in knots and bags were under his eyes.

"Hey!" I called, trying to catch his attention. I had pretty much been hanging here, bored to death, soaking up some vitamin C. Now, I finally had someone to socialize with, if only for a moment.

"Hey," he mumbled, rubbing his weary face with his hands. A moment later, his face reappeared slowly from behind them. "Hey! They put you up here already?" He sounded quite surprised, but not in a good way.

I watched his startled gaze for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, it's better than sleeping with the bugs, you know?"

"No, no - did the girls pull something!?"

I frowned. Almost everyone knew that they had. "Where have you been for the past day?"

He rubbed his eyes again and began walking towards me. "Delivering Her Royal Pain's message to all of Elf City... well, I skipped some houses - but can you blame me-"

"Andrew!"

He paused and looked at me, squinting through his eyes.

"What was the message?"

"Well..." he dragged, "you're not gonna like it. Apparently, you'll have an audience tonight."

Hmm... it was to be expected, I suppose. Actually, this reminded me of Jeanne d'Arc of France, who had led the french army, disguised as a man, in the Hundred Year's War and was eventually burned at the stake in front of a live audience. I can see the future headline now: GIRL BURNED TO DEATH BY ELVES FOR BEING A BLOOD HOUND BROUGHT THE ELVES' DISCRIMINATION OF THE BLOOD HOUNDS TO A REST!

That, or: FIRST BLOOD HOUND STAKED; NOW FOR THE REST OF 'EM! ALL HAIL QUEEN BERYL OF ELF CITY!

This'll kinda put a damper on everything we've done to stop this, wont it? Oh well. I've led a full life... kinda... and I did discover a magical city that only appeared in fairy tales.

The point was, either way I was beyond having shock attacks every time something dramatic happened. And if I get out of this alive, maybe it will make me a stronger person in the end! You know... thicker skin and all that.

Or scar me for life....

"It's alright. You go get some rest. You look tired."

"Are you kidding me?" he asked, his eyes opening wider than I'd seen them all day, just barely, though. "I am not gonna go off to bed and let you hang here like one of those rag dolls!"

"If I might need your help at the end of this with the whole-" I looked around, then whispered, "-rescue plan, I don't want you falling asleep on the job! Now go on. Scoot. I'll be fine. And if anything happens, I'll try and get someone to wake you up."

His face didn't soften, but I noticed his shoulders slump in defeat. He obviously couldn't think of anything better to fight off my statement, having only slept a day ago and all. Otherwise he'd have eaten me up right on the spot until I was speechless.

Finally, he sighed and turned around, and waved his hand at me. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going to bed. But when I wake up, I will come back here just to pick a fight with you."

I smiled, knowing that I had won. "Looking forward to it!"

"Don't you die while I'm asleep!" was his last statement to me before he sulked all the way back into the castle.

Slowly, the swell of excitement in my chest from having someone to talk to faded, and once again I was bored. The sun beamed down on me ruthlessly and my legs were beginning to sweat under the dress. So were my arms. Pretty much all of me was sweating, actually. But if they lit this stage up, then I'm going to go way past sweating. Guess I could count my blessings for now, huh?

--

When Andrew had said a crowd, I had expected as many people as there are daily at the party place. There were three times more people than that, all coming to support the "cause".

Endymion had settled into his seat and stared, his eyes fixed only on me and no one else.

It was past dark. The sun had set a while ago, taking its warmth with it. My arms had goosebumps from being exposed to the cold.

Fire torches had been lighted and put all around me, providing both a spotlight on me, and warmth for those lucky enough to get close to one.

When I glanced up, I noticed that the sky was darkening over with clouds. Thick clouds at that. But I still couldn't see the girls anywhere. However, I noticed the Generals were standing by Endymion - including Nephrite. It took all my willpower not to call out his name and ask him how his journey was.

When I looked around again, my eyes stopped just outside the castle premises where a group of elves - all male - were marching in rhythm and banging noisily on drums and playing the trumpets. The end has begun.

The crowd stopped their mindless chatter to watch them. Once they had made a full circle of the castle, they stopped in front of the stage in unison, and Endymion stood from his chair.

"Elves of Elf City," he called. "We are gathered here to witness the burning of the first of many Blood Hounds. They are the reason that we have moved. The reason that a majority of our species has died. They set Hell upon the Old City, and now we will get back at them!"

There was a chorused cheer from the crowd. A loud one.

"Will we stand for what they have done!?" Endymion asked, looking around.

"No!"

"Will we stand by and watch them do the same thing again!?"

"No!"

"We wont stand by!"

"No!"

"We wont stand by!"

"No!"

It was like a song - a hypnotic one. And even if I could plea not guilty - even if I could deny that I was here to destroy them - the truth is that they wouldn't have heard me anyway. Because they were loud. And convinced. And unstoppable.

"Bring out the torches!"

Since the stage was set right in the middle of the field, that meant that I was surrounded by the castle. Which meant that there were four exits in which four elves came out of, all facing me. They were all male, and held the torches high and proud. As they walked towards me, the smell of the unmistakable stench of smoke - a thick, heavy odor that was both sweet and suffocating at the same time, increased. My stomach churned as a rouse of nausea hit me. It was like a punch in the stomach - sudden and brutal.

And then I felt something wet hit my nose and roll down my face. Then something hit my forehead. It took me only a second to realize what was happening, and I looked around wildly again until my eyes had spotted her.

Lita stood not far from the stage, unmoving. Yet, she didn't seem to be concentrating either. At least, not until it began to drizzle hard. Her face then scrunched up.

The men holding the torches looked around wildly before realizing that it had began to rain. Then, one of them rushed towards the stage and threw the torch at it before the flame had managed to go out. Another man then followed. However, the third and fourth men couldn't - their torches had gone out.

It didn't even matter, though. The stage lit ablaze from behind and in front of me, the flames building up like a wall, the smell of smoke more heavy than before.

Through the flames I spotted Mina with Endymion, talking with him in a rushed voice. Frost was on his shoulder, also talking. Then Endymion rose and began to bark something at them, but I couldn't hear what because of the whoosh of the flames and the pour of the rain. And it pained me to see him like this. For as long as I'd known him, I had never seen him yell at anyone! Not even a year ago when I had still been a stranger, and a kid had decided it would be fun to collect all the pickle juice he could and then cover the decorations at the party with them. But Endymion had only laughed then, picked him up, and asked him if he had fun.

It was starting to get unbearably hot. I struggled with the rope, but it only did me no good. It burned my flesh as I tried to get away, the friction increasing until, finally, I stopped and looked around.

The flames had come closer, grown taller, and the rain had began to pour even faster. I was both wet and burning at the same time.

"Serenity!"

I looked around, my head dizzy, trying to find the source of the voice. It was Ray. She held her hands out at the flames, trying to stop their dutiful path of destruction.

Then I saw Kunzite jump onto the stage with a dagger, and he began to cut furiously at the rope, cutting me along with it.

I pressed my body back away from the dagger, wincing as pain shot up my back, but it still continued to penetrate my skin. Kunzite muttered a string of curses, apologizing in between, as he tried to get the rope to loosen up.

No one even noticed. Everyone was too busy cheering and dancing to the faint drumming and trumpet-playing that had seemed loud just minutes before.

Kunzite had almost finished cutting me loose, which had become harder with the blood that had slowly rose to the surface and began to dampen my top, when the hem of my dress caught on fire. I hadn't noticed it, too busy focusing on the work Kunzite was doing and my labored breathing. But when my leg began to sting, I began to struggle, and Kunzite noticed.

He grabbed the skirt and ripped it off with his dagger enough so that the fabric that was on fire was in is hands, and he threw it at the wall of fire. Then he busied himself with the rope, going faster now.

The flame was becoming uncontrollable now. It had spread to where I was from behind, and even though Kunzite had taken the time to cut the dress I had become sick of now, my feet began to burn up anyhow as I tried to inch away.

"Hold still!"

"I'm trying!" I gasped, struggling again as pain shot up my legs.

My throat was getting itchy and I felt like I couldn't breathe. It felt like the air had become heavy, and I was only getting so much oxygen into my lungs.

I coughed, and then I coughed again, and screamed when that last cough bolted me forward right into the blade of Kunzite's dagger.

But then the rope fell free, and I fell, coughing and wheezing. Kunzite grabbed me under my shoulders and hauled me up, then let me lean against him as he led me in the right direction.

"I got you," he whispered. I noticed that his words sounded heavy. The smoke was effecting him, too.

I coughed again, and couldn't stop for a few seconds. When I finally opened my eyes, I was next to Ray, who took me from Kunzite, forgetting about the fire.

The rain had not stopped, though. It was falling so fast and hard, it hurt - and I realized that it was because it was also hailing.

But the elves were determined to have their fun. They continued to dance and talk, even though they were getting drenched.

I turned back, wobbling slightly on my feet, as I searched for Endymion.

When I found him, Mina and Frost had already left, and now Beryl stood next to him, wrapped in his embrace with her face close to his.

It tore through my chest, the sight of them together, and I turned back swiftly, still slightly dizzy, and let Ray help me through the rain and towards the castle.

No one had even noticed us. Beryl and Endymion were so engrossed with each other, they had forgotten to watch the stage - even though they probably couldn't see much past it anyhow, and the elves were no better.

When we had reached the closest exit, we stopped to take a few breaths.

"Is Lita gonna stay out there?" I gasped, coughing at the cool night air and wincing in pain at the same time.

"She has to," Ray said, covering me with a towel. "She needs to keep the rain going to keep off any suspicions."

And then Jadeite appeared, even though I'd been hoping that it would be Nephrite, but taking what I got, and we were off again.

We sprinted into the building and down the long hall, up the stairs, and around a few corners where Zoisite met us and we continued to rush.

We were in a part of the castle that I didn't recognize - in fact, I don't recognize most of this castle, but it still made me wonder where we were heading.

Jadeite opened the door and Zoisite rushed in, then I was pushed inside, followed by Ray and then Jadeite.

We had entered a tower-like place with stairs spiraling up, continuing on forever towards heaven. It reminded me of Rapunzel, even though the tower in which Rupunzel slept had no door, no stairs, and one room and a window. This was clearly different, but the connections still felt the same.

And there were many windows. For every couple of dozen stairs we climbed, there was one.

I had began to relax, letting my numb body feel the pain in my back, the cuts on my stomach, and my burning feet, when I heard gasps from outside. I wasn't the only one.

Jadeite rushed to look through the third window we had passed, and shook his head at us and urged us to continue, as the words "She's gone!" and "Did she melt into the air?" echoed into the tower.

"They put out the fire," Jadeite explained in a hurry as we continued up the stairs, panting from the exercise. "They know you're gone. Beryl-"

"Yeah, well, Beryl really isn't the biggest problem right now. We need to get her," Ray pointed at me, "to the Healing Womb, get that evil thing out of her, and let her run off to the humans. And we have only so much time to do this."

Zoisite began to climb the stairs faster, and I was struggling to keep up. But I continued up the stairs as fast as I could.

My skin had goosebumps, and I noticed that I was shaking despite the fact that I was sure I felt nothing. My teeth were making a small chattering noise.

"Where exactly are we going?" I huffed, pausing for a second, and then continuing up as if I never stopped.

"We're taking the long way to the Healing Womb," Zoisite explained. "The one we build for the Elf Royalties if they needed to get somewhere in secret in dire circumstances. There is a door for every floor of this castle, but it takes time getting there."

The rest of the flight up was quiet, but it didn't last as long as I thought it would. We weren't even high up when Zoisite stopped and took out a key, pressing it into the lock of a tiny wooden door that blended well with the wall.

He opened it up, and I got in, having to scrunch down because of it's size, but froze mid-step.

Ten guards stood before us, all dripping wet, and all armed with really sharp objects.

Zoisite and Jadeite pushed in front of Ray and me, taking out their swords, intent on battling them.

"Go!" Zoisite barked at Ray. "Be careful! You know the way!"

Ray grabbed my arm and pushed me through the small door again, and up we went, running up the stairs and taking three at a time. When we reached the next door, Ray opened it and peeked out. Seeing that the coast was clear, she rushed me in and we both ran down the hall where Nephrite waited for us.

"I figured that you two would show up here," he commented, eying my disheveled form with wonder. He then turned and looked down the hall, grasping the handle of it with his right hand, and resting his left hand on the pommel.

He turned towards us and gestured to follow, and we did.

We rushed down the hall, and down the stairs, Nephrite leading us down to where Kunzite was waiting patiently. I could hear swords clashing with swords, realizing that we had made a full circle, but managed to steer clear of any guards.

Kunzite took my arm and pointed down the hall. "Go there, make a right, and continue. Nephrite will go with you. We need to keep the rest of the guards at bay. We'll find you when we can."

Ray didn't come with us - which I'm guessing is what Kunzite meant by we. However, it left me alone with Nephrite, and I was thanking God for it.

"What did you find?" I whispered as we rushed quietly down the hall.

He had a tense frown on his face, and shook his head. "You were right."

I was dreading that answer. Out of all things - my guess was accurate.

"But it's worse. She not just that, but she's also second in line for the throne."

"She's what-"

No sooner were the words out of my mouth when three guards appeared from out of nowhere.

"There she is!"

"Get her!"

Nephrite, lightning fast, took out his sword and stepped in front of me. But they were surrounding us, and even if he tried to protect me, one would be facing me anyhow.

Two men rushed at Nephrite, and he blocked them both off, grunting and yelling at them. But one one of them just stood there, smiling at me.

"Now, come here before anyone gets hurt," he said, his voice menacing.

I backed up, only to run into Nephrite's back, causing him to pause. Then I heard a muffled cry and turned to find that because of me, he wasn't able to move out fast enough and had a sword plunged deep into his arm.

Then he growled and aimed at the guard who had injured him, plunging his sword into his neck as the man tried to duck out of the way. Then he fell over, dead.

I screamed and backed away to the wall, and watched as the two remaining guards turned to Nephrite and began to battle him. But his hand was slowing him down, and no one was around to help. In a matter of seconds, another sword pierced through his skin, injuring his ankle.

And then Nephrite fell to his knees.

There was blood everywhere. Blood from the now-dead guard, blood from Nephrite's wounds, and blood from the two injured guards, too.

And I had enough of this.

Before I knew what I was doing, a giant worm plunged out of the floor and fell down at an exhilarating rate until it crushed them both, nearly getting Nephrite, too.

But when I came close enough, I realized that it hadn't missed him at all. In fact, it had fallen on his injured leg, and I gasped when I saw the sweat on his brow.

"Nephrite!"

"I-I'm fine!" he grunted. "GO! Head to-ward t-the W-omb!"

"But- but you're hurt! I can't leave you here!"

"Go!" he huffed again, eyes closed tight from the pain. "Kun-n-zite and Ray will b-be here so-on."

"But-"

"GO!"

And I did. I ran like the coward I am-

-right into the lion's den.

"Why, hello, Serenity. I was expecting to chase you down, but it appears you just couldn't stay away."

Beryl stood against the wall lazily, her eyes a burning blood red light that burned into my form.

"I want my necklace," she growled. "And I intend to get it one way or another!"

TBC

A/N: Well, this chapter was shockingly VERY hard to write. And I like this part right here - just enough drama, yet also makes you wonder what will happen next. REVIEW PLEASE!