Act Thirteen: A Battle, Tardiness, and Overcompensation
Starlily11: Hey, y'all! Sorry it's been so long, but you know how it is. School hands you a crap load of homework and you must obey like a mindless drone.
Serena: No kidding. And they never give snow days!
Starlily11: And it has me watching scenes from The Exorcist…shh, don't tell the parental units! Anyway, on with the show!
Serena woke up to find herself floating in midair in her basement. The blonde groaned and groped for her phone. She had to tell Seiya she was all right. Then, she remembered; blood had come spewing out of the faucet, and a hand had covered her mouth; she'd passed out or fainted or something. The girl looked around, momentarily dazed. The witch had her back to her, and was holding a book that looked frighteningly like it might have been bound in human skin. The blonde shuddered in revulsion at the thought. She groped for the protective charm around her neck.
Nothing was there. Serena felt fear set in. Her protection was gone, and she was in serious danger. She felt something sniffing at her hand. 'Oh, Selene, don't let the wolf eat me,' the girl prayed. 'Please, save me!' The blonde found that she was stranded in midair, and she had no idea how to get down, and worse; she couldn't even make a run for it without being noticed. The wolf whined to his mistress, and Serena resisted the urge to kick him. If she did that, she might lose a foot, or possibly an entire leg.
Even so, she couldn't stifle a whimper when the witch turned to face her, smiling wickedly. The blonde felt an almost irresistible urge to wet herself. Fortunately, she had enough sanity left in her to make her want to hold on to what little dignity she had left. She was floating in midair with a wolf below her. Said wolf was now sniffing her ass, for God's sake! She could at least control her bladder!
"Ah, so our guest has awakened," the witch smiled.
"Are you sure you don't mean prisoner?" the blonde inquired in a small voice.
"Prisoner is such a harsh word. You are perfectly free to move around."
"Yeah, and I have a wolf beneath me that's sniffing my ass and could easily gnaw me in half!"
"Maximus, get over here!" the witch snapped. The wolf obeyed. "Is that better?" she asked.
"Somewhat. Listen, you seem reasonable…how about you let me go, and I'll convince my parents to move us back to Seattle and you can continue to…ah, make your home here?"
"Oh, no! You have something I want, dearie, and I'm not letting you go before I get it."
"Really? What's that?" Serena asked. 'Please don't let it be what I think it is,' she thought.
"Your Silver Crystal, of course!"
'Damn!' "Uh, that's a problem, see, because I kind of…lost it."
"You and I both know that's not the truth. I feel its power burning within you as we speak. Hand it over."
"Why should I?" Serena asked boldly. 'Seiya, guys, you can come bursting in any time now!'
"Because if you don't, then your darling little brother will pay the price."
The witch waved a hand over the mirrors of the closet doors, and Sammy came through them, struggling against invisible bonds.
"Sammy!" Serena yelled. 'Oh, God, this is bad!'
"Hmm, I wonder if he would make a good toad?" the witch mused.
"Don't you touch him, you bitch!"
"Serena, what's going on?" Sammy asked. He was clearly scared. "Who's this lady, and why's she after you?"
That was it. "MOON ETERNAL! MAKE-UP!" Serena shouted. Screw the secret identity, she had to do something! In seconds, Eternal Sailor Moon stood there, glowering at the enemy. "How dare you terrorize an innocent boy and demand something that never has and never will belong to you? I won't stand for it! I am Sailor Moon, soldier of love and justice, and on behalf of the Moon, I'll punish you!"A faint pain on the back of her head entered her senses. 'Oh, shut it!' she thought. 'I've got better things to do than deal with a deity who doesn't like repetition!'
Sammy stared at his sister in awe. He had never seen this coming. His sister was Sailor Moon! Ditzy, klutzy, crybaby Serena was Sailor Moon! It didn't add up. The boy gawked at his sister, who was apparently a superhero. 'Maybe that's why she's always late,' he thought. 'It must be exhausting to be a superhero when you can barely walk across a solid, flat surface without falling flat on your face.'
The witch merely looked amused. "Very well, I'll play," she sighed. Then, she summoned her powers and aimed a blast at Sailor Moon.
Sailor Moon dodged, and the blast left a burn mark on the wall. Sammy wondered why his parents hadn't heard the noise. They were inside, and this fight was pretty noisy.
"Careful! Are you trying to announce to the town that you're back from the dead?" Sailor Moon yelped.
"The only ones who are aware of what's going on are you, me, and your brother."
"Lovely." Sailor Moon aimed an attack of her own, but the witch blocked it.
"What the…?"
"I'm stronger than I seem, Princess Serenity."
"Yeah, but you're just a pile of bones."
"I won't be so forever. When I kill you, I shall live again, and Maximus shall regain his true form."
"Uh, yeah…good luck with that."
"Brave words coming from a Princess whose guardians are nowhere to be seen."
"I can fight my own battles."
"Only when you have no other choice. You prefer to hide behind your protectors."
Sammy was totally confused by now. His sister was Sailor Moon, and she was also a princess? What was the deal? And who would name their kid Serenity? The boy looked from his sister to the witch and scratched his head. He was clearly missing something.
"Wanna bet?" Sailor Moon asked. She ran for the witch and aimed a kick. The wolf lunged and closed his teeth around her booted leg. The blonde summoned the Tier and aimed. This blast took the witch by surprise and hit. The witch screamed and fled to her world behind the mirror. The wolf followed.
Serena then turned to Sammy, standing bravely on both legs. One had bite marks from the wolf's powerful jaws. "You okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine," he answered. "You're Sailor Moon?"
"Yeah."
"You've gotta be kidding me!"
"No." The blonde knelt down next to him and looked him in the eyes. "Forget," she murmured.
Sammy felt sleepiness set in, and he struggled to remain awake. He failed, and collapsed. Serena powered down, caught him as he fell, and carried him upstairs to his room. She put him on his bed and tucked the blankets around him gently, then limped back down to the basement. Her leg hurt a lot. As she was rubbing it, the Starlights, the Outers, the Inners, and Sailor Sun all burst into the room.
"Where's the enemy?" Sailor Sun asked.
"Gone. For the moment," Serena answered.
"You mean we missed it?" Sailor Star Healer demanded.
"Uh-huh," Serena shifted her hurt leg, wincing when bolts of pain went shooting up it.
"What happened?" Star Fighter asked, kneeling next to her.
"I fought, and won…but I got bitten," the blonde grimaced.
Sailor Saturn knelt down and peered at the injured leg. "The wolf bit you?"
"Yeah."
The younger girl pressed a hand over the wounds, and the hand glowed with a silvery violet light. The pain increased briefly, then diminished. When she moved her hand, the bite was healed.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"So, wait…you fought the enemy by yourself?" Uranus asked.
"Uh-huh, but I sure haven't seen the last of her. She'll be back."
"Sorry we were late. We couldn't find the place."
"I figured it was something like that."
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. A little tired, but fine. Ye gods, that was close! It was pure luck that I managed to get a blast in. The first time, she blocked it."
"You're joking."
"No, I'm not. She blocked me. I just got in a lucky shot."
Sailor Pluto looked nervous. They all did. The thought that they hadn't been there when Serena most needed backup scared all of them. Fighter shuddered as she imagined what could have happened to her Odango. Uranus shivered as she realized how close she had come to losing her Princess, and that they'd been late. Maker was concerned that this new enemy had blocked Serena's power. Serena had defeated Chaos; but her power had barely been able to stop this new enemy.
"This isn't good," Sailor Sun fretted. "The enemy is more powerful than I thought. Thank goodness the protection charm held!"
"Actually, I think that got destroyed. Before, when I was talking to Seiya, I got knocked out and I had it on. When I came to, it was gone."
Sailor Sun paled. "That shouldn't be possible," she murmured. "Only the powers of the Moon should be able to do that…"
"It isn't safe for you here anymore, Serena. We need to get you out of here," Mars stated.
"How exactly can we do that? I have school, and how would I explain it to my parents?"
Mars was silent.
"I don't like this," Uranus muttered. "I don't like this at all. Our Princess is in danger, and we can't even get her out of here."
"Well, I could use the Silver Crystal…" Serena began.
"No!" everyone shouted.
"It's too dangerous," Mercury stated firmly.
"Well, we obviously have to do something! It's not like we can set up guards in here or something!"
Uranus' eyes flashed with a thought at that. "Maybe we can," she said.
'Oh, no, I should have kept my mouth shut!' the blonde thought.
§†§†§†§†§†§
Serena barely managed to stifle a sigh as she woke up from a doze and saw that Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, and Saturn were still surrounding her bed. She understood that she was in danger, but this was ridiculous! It was nice to know that she was safe if anything happened, but the fact that guards surrounded her bed made her feel more than just a little awkward. What if she talked in her sleep? What if she snored? Oh, God…what if she had a dream about Seiya in the nude and said something embarrassing? The blonde blushed. It was going to be a long night.