Serena screamed and dropped the necklace, wishing she'd never been stupid enough to touch it in the first place. Now, she remembered everything. And she was praying she'd forget again.

"You knew," she said bitterly, glaring at Obsidian.

"We were going to tell you," the older girl protested. "Someday."

"Someday? Oh, and didn't I have a right to know who I really am? Not that I wanted to have to know, but if you'd given me a choice -"

"The reason we didn't tell you was because we wanted to keep you safe!" Obsidian said, trying to explain.

"You didn't keep me safe from my supposed friends, you know!"

"Yes, but... Serena? Serena! Come back here, now!"

"Leave me alone!" Serena yelled over her shoulder as she ran out of the room.

Obsidian stared after her, then picked up her communicator. "Pluto? She's remembered and run away. What do we do now?"

X X X

"It's too difficult!" Hotaru said angrily, throwing her pencil down in a fit of temper.

"What is?" Michiru asked, putting her violin down.

"My algebra homework!"

"Well, let's see if I can help you..."

All possibilities of Michiru helping Hotaru vanished abruptly when Setsuna materialised, looking more agitated than any of the Outer Scouts had ever seen her. She looked around to ensure all three were present and accounted for before speaking.

"There has been an unexpected turn of events," she said, with as much dignity as she could gather.

"What now?" Haruka demanded from where she was eating a sandwich and watching the TV.

"The Princess has been reawakened. And this was not supposed to happen until much, much later."

X X X X

"Captain?"

Kanaydya looked round. Xanthenie approached her cautiously.

"Yes?" she snapped.

"What did Sailor Moon say?"

Kanaydya thought back to the conversation. "She said we should go back to being what we were."

"I don't want that to happen."

Kanaydya was tempted to point out that Xanthenie was "born" long after the Change, and so had no idea of what they had been like. She could scarcely remember it herself. But she didn't.

"Do you think Queen Beryl would let that happen?"

"But suppose... suppose the Scouts win?"

"Queen Beryl said we are the strongest creatures working for her. I doubt a group of human children can stop us."

She turned away from Xanthenie, who took the hint and left.

"They are of no real threat. But you are, traitor. You could have been one of us. But you ran, and now you are helping them. You know the penalty for treachery. And when we win, you will pay it, Sapphira, or whatever it is you call yourself now!"

X X X X

"Are you all right, Miss?"

Aquamarine sat up. She was now in a strange apartment, lying on the settee. The girl from downstairs was watching her, a worried expression on her face.

"What happened?" She asked warily.

"I don't know. You just collapsed."

"I'm fine now, Miss..."

"Kino. Lita Kino."

"Miss Kino. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get to my school."

As she left, Aquamarine noticed something lying on the table. It was a pen. A transformation pen.

"She's a Scout!"

X X X X

Serena ran towards her school, then stopped abruptly as a thought struck her. If she went there, she would meet Raye and Amy, and she had no wish to do that any day soon. If she went home, her parents would kill her. She couldn't go to Molly's as Molly was at school. She didn't know where Jadeite lived.

"Where do I go?" she wondered, looking around.

She thought for a moment before she decided to risk going to school. She began to cross the road, not noticing the car speeding towards her.

"Look out!" someone yelled.

There was a terrible screech of brakes as the driver tried desperately to stop. Serena found herself practically frozen in place. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure lunge towards her. Then there was nothing but blackness.

X X X X

Haruko stared in disbelief at the contents of Onyx's lunch. How someone could eat a bacon sandwich, a banana, a packet of crisps, and then a chocolate bar (in that order) was beyond her. In fact, it made her feel ill just thinking about it. She was about to ask when the headmaster appeared on the scene.

"Children, has anyone seen Miss Tsukino?" He had to shout to be heard over the noise.

"No," everyone answered.

"Not since this morning," Onyx added.

The Head nodded. "Very well."

The Princess and the General exchanged concerned looks.

"She's run off again..." they said together.

X X X X

RING – RING! RING – RING!

Ikuko picked the phone up. "Hello? Yes, speaking. What? When did you see her last? I see. No, we haven't seen her... Yes, that would be helpful. Goodbye."

Setting it down again, she marched into the kitchen with a grim face.

"Kenji, you're not going to like what I've got to say."

"What's wrong now?" her husband groaned.

"It's Serena. She's run away from school... again!"

RING – RING! RING – RING!

The phone rang again. Kenji went to answer this time. He came back looking like he'd seen a ghost.

"What is it?"

"That was the hospital. Serena's… she was almost hit by a car."

X X X X

As soon as school was dismissed, Onyx and Haruko were on their way to Serena's house.

"I don't know what we're planning on doing," Onyx said with a frown. "Walk up to the door and say, "Hi, we go to Serena's school and we haven't seen her all day, so is she here, as it's our job to protect her"?"

"We don't have to say anything," Haruko said patiently. "You just have to look in her window and see if she's there, while I look in the living room window."

"And what if we're seen?"

"Yes, well, we'll cross that bridge when – if – we come to it."

X X X X

"You're sure?" Obsidian gave Aquamarine an uncertain look.

"Of course, idiot. I'd hardly imagine something like that!"

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that."

"OBSIDIAN!" Aquamarine squealed, outraged, before realising her superior was laughing.

"On a more serious note, though, if this girl is another Scout, she's an Inner. And so..."

"She might side with the rest of the Inners," Obsidian said, "against Serena."

"Speaking of Serena, don't you think you should pay her a visit? Try to explain?"

"I can try to explain, but I don't know if she'll be in the mood for listening. She sure was mad at me!"

"When did you become an American?"

"What?"

X X X X

Onyx and Haruko weren't the only people hanging around Serena's house.

"Very odd relationship those two have," Raye complained from where she was sitting up a tree across the road. "He never visits her, and she never visits him!"

"Maybe her parents don't know about it, so they can't risk meeting except after school." Amy said as she ducked to avoid a branch the wind had sent towards her head.

The movement almost knocked Raye out of the tree.

"Hey, watch it, clumsy!" she whined.

"Sorry. But isn't this going a bit far?"

"I just want to find out who he is. I don't want her in any danger, even if she wasn't a true friend after all," the other girl lied, turning her attention back to the house.

Obsidian, walking beneath the tree on her way to Serena's house, was quite astonished to hear voices coming from overhead. The sight that met her eyes when she looked up made her grit her teeth and clench her fists.

"Oi! What under the Sun are you two doing up there? Waiting to rob someone?"

Raye and Amy almost fell out of the tree in shock when the voice yelled beneath them. Both jumped down to face their accuser.

"Is it any of your business?" Raye asked coldly.

"Anything involving you, Fire-Girl, is most definitely my business. You-" this was directed at Amy "-had better clear off. I heard enough to know that this doesn't concern you."

"Just who do you think you are, ordering me around?" the outraged Scout demanded.

Obsidian's eyes flashed red for a minute. "Do. As. You're. Told."

"Go ahead, please," Raye said through gritted teeth. "I'll catch up."

When he left, she fixed this strange girl who had the audacity to boss her around – what was her name again? Scarlett something? - with a glare that could have melted Antarctica. The girl returned it with a look that would have made Medusa jealous.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Raye demanded after a few minutes, finding that she was unable to meet that glare any longer.

"Who I am is unimportant. What is important is that you and your ilk leave Serena alone."

"What's it to you?"

"My dear girl, as Serena's guardian, it is everything to me."

"Guardian, huh? You'll be telling me you're Queen of the Moon Kingdom next," Raye scoffed.

Obsidian took a step forwards, and the Scout of Mars took a step back. Apart from the fact the former was over a head taller than the latter, she was a very fearsome sight when angry, as Onyx and Haruko would affirm.

"Get out of here this minute. And if I see or hear anything of you around here ever again, you won't live to regret it."

"Are you threatening me?"

"What part of "get out" didn't you understand?"

Raye was about to retort, but thought better of it. She didn't want to put this obviously mad girl to the test, at least not now, without backup nearby.

Obsidian watched her go, then crossed the road and headed towards Serena's house.

"Hey! 'Sidian!" someone called from somewhere nearby.

Startled, she stopped in her tracks. Haruko appeared seemingly out of nowhere, looking rather worried. Onyx followed a few minutes later.

"What the devil are you two doing here?"

"Could ask you the same question," Onyx said smartly.

"Oi, watch it. You're treading a very thin line here, kid," Obsidian was in no mood to put up with her subordinate's constant taunting.

"We were checking on the Princess," Haruko quickly interrupted. "And something's happened to her!"

"What sort of something?"

"Something that isn't good," Onyx interrupted, earning an irritated look from both her companions. "Her parents and brother rushed off somewhere not long after we arrived and they haven't come back yet. And there's no sign of Serena."

"What do you make of it?" Haruko asked as soon as she could get a word in edgeways.

"I don't know. But she's our leader, and the Schreail know that."

The other two digested that in silence.

"You don't mean..."

"Like I said, I don't know. But I wouldn't put it past them to do something to her. Like kill her, for instance. Or kidnap her."

Those were truly appalling thoughts.

X X X X

"Seriously, you didn't expect me to fall for that trick again?" Nephrite (the only one in this conversation not covered in red paint) asked sarcastically. "The only difference was it was paint this time, not water."

Zoycite glared at her, pushing her suddenly blood-red hair away from her eyes. "Well, I was running out of ideas!" she whined.

"If that's the best you can do, you are in serious trouble."

X X X X

Jadeite frowned. Something was wrong, he'd felt it all day. Were the Schreail attacking again? Or was it the Dark Kingdom up to their old tricks? Pity if it was, they seemed to have gone into hiding since he'd left.

X X X X

Aquamarine looked up at the clock. Obsidian had been gone half an hour, and the girls hadn't come home from school. Maybe she should go look for them. But no, that would mean if they came home, there'd be no one there and they might go off again. She couldn't have that.

As if on cue, the door was hurled open and Obsidian, Onyx and Haruko burst in.

"Serena… is… in… hospital!" Haruko gasped, bent almost double as she tried to regain her breath.

Aquamarine jumped up, horrified. "What? What happened?"