Sailor Moon appeared on a rooftop in a flash of light and then travelled through the night in great leaps and bounds. Nobody noticed the shadow which passed over their heads, all were too occupied with getting out of the frigid wind. She landed in an alley and Selene climbed off of her back. She stepped away from the girl and concentrated. The blonde warrior with her hair in a strange arrangement of buns and pig tails down to her knees disappeared to be replaced with a short, black haired woman. The girl shouted and ran to the woman's arms.
"MAMA!"
The woman picked the little girl up and carried her out of the ally. Just a few metres away was the hotel where the woman had earlier rented a room. The night was half gone and so the pair passed no one as they made their way to their room. As soon as they entered the woman took the child into the bathroom where she ran a warm bath and stripped the girl of her filthy clothing. Selene shivered for a couple of minutes even after being immersed in the warm water, her clothing had been unsuited to winter in Northern latitudes and had not offered her much protection against the cold.
The women saw a package on the bathroom counter and read the note attached to it. 'Ms Irene Keenan, enclosed are the purchases you requested, you received 204 yen in change and the docket is included, yours faithfully Cara Siruna, Manager.'
"Irene Keenan!" the woman muttered as she unwrapped the parcel, "I am Serena Tsukino... please if there is a diety listening don't make it necessary for me to give up my name. It's the only thing I have left of my parents..." the packaging fell away to reveal a pair of scissors, some hair dye and a small red parka. Serena hung the parka up near the door then took the scissors and hair dye and placed them next to the bath.
A tired little girl looked at her and yawned, "Can I get out now Mama?"
"Soon Leni," her mother answered, "I've just got to do some things to your hair so you don't look the same, sort of like playing dress up."
"Dress up?" Selene asked with more interest, "What are you goin to do?"
"Well I thought I'd change the colour of your hair and cut it a bit..."
"Make it look like yours?"
"Well the same colour maybe but I won't cut it as short, I think I'll cut it up to your chin, what do you think?"
An hour later Serena tucked the now ebon haired child into bed. Her cropped curls framed her face and her sapphire eyes, shades darker than her mother's, closed. Serena caressed the child's forehead, exerted a small amount of the healing magic she had been forced to learn over the past few years. Selene's sleep would now be dreamless, uninterrupted by nightmares about the events of the past few weeks. Unlike her mother.
Serena lay down beside the sleeping child, just watching her breathe. She regarded the tale she told Tuxedo Mask and the others the truth. That although she herself still lived, the Princess Serenity was well and truly dead. She remembered the circumstances leading up to the birth of Selene, the train of events that began with a talking cat and ended in the death of all of her ideals. She remembered...
*****
The day she gotten home to find her parents' battered bodies in their bedroom she'd been seventeen. She'd discovered her brother bleeding to death and had not been able to do anything other than hold him as he breathed his last. Traumatised she left his body near their parents' and had gone to her own room to find the words, 'You're next Sailor Moon!' scrawled over her bedroom wall in blood, her brother's dismembered arm having been a gruesome paint brush and left, discarded on her bed. She beserked, her vision had been swamped with red and by the time it had cleared again she'd been across the street watching the silver flames cool into the red of an ordinary house fire.
Several months later, another city, another country, she'd been walking down the street with a friend for a late birthday dinner when a man had jumped out and demanded all their valuables. Neither had protested as they passed their wallets and watches to the mugger but, even so, he had emptied his gun into the pair. The last thing she remembered of that day was his face close to hers, his eyes glowing red, "Die Bitch."
A week later an anxious doctor had sat next to her hospital bed and told her that her friend was dead and that it had been a very close thing with her and her child. It was the first she'd ever known of the baby who would one day be Selene and her first reaction had been denial. She'd never even kissed a male other than her father or brother how could it have happened? Once the doctor had understood that her denial stemmed from real confusion not self delusion she too could not see how the child had been conceived. A divine birthday present she had joked when she dated the conception as the night of Serena's eighteenth birthday.
That had been the dawning of the realisation that the Moon Princess was not safe in Tokyo with Luna. On the night of her birthday she had dreamed of a Prince who had loved the Moon Princess and had shown his love in the most persuasive way possible on the night of the princess' eighteenth birthday. She had dreamed of a man with with unruly black hair and eyes the deepest sapphire blue and in her dream she had felt the spark of new life they had created between them. As she had realised that that the dream was a true memory, she had once been the Moon Princess and had been reincarnated in the present after an untimely death, her world exploded. Literally.
When the smoke had cleared she had seen the bodies of patients, nurses and her own doctor littering the debris. The Negaverse had stumbled across her purely by accident in their never ending quest for conquest and had decided to rid themselves of an irritant while it was weak. She had gone on to thwart them but that could not bring back the dozens of dead who had just been in the wrong place. She learned that some of those who served the Negaverse could sense her energy signature when she stayed in one place for too long, her magic would begin to permeate her surroundings and alert those sensitive to her general location.
The learning came at a high cost. Several weeks after she'd been shot she had found a secretarial job but the Negaverse had found her energy signature and launched an attack to draw her out. She'd done her duty and gone to defend the world aginst evil but during the battle the office building she had worked in had been caught in the crossfire. While she had been disracted rescuing people from the flame she had been seriously wounded and more than thirty people had still died.
Every time she had found a place to settle the Negaverse would home in on her and the body count would rise. She had realised that unless she settled in a place of concentrated energy like Tokyo or New York she had to stay on the road. Such places where the main targets for attacks and she didn't want her child anywhere near the focal point for any Negaverse attacks.
She had still been travelling the day Selene had been born. When she had collapsed in a cafe customers had called an ambulance and had her taken to hospital. Unknown to everyone the coming birth was emmitting an enormous amount of concentrated energy and the Negaverse had sent agents to master it.
Serena had laboured for five hours before Selene had been born and hadn't noticed the lack of nurses until after the baby girl's first cry. She had looked over to find that it had not been a doctor holding the infant but a Negaverse General. He had laughed at her and demanded the Imperial Silver Crystal. She hadn't had it and he carried through on his threat to the child. Near him lay a tray of surgical tools and he had grasped the scalple and used it on the newborn's back.
Serena had seen the knife decending and had not been able to prevent it. As she watched her enemy begin to mutilate her child she had drawn a power from somewhere deep inside herself and transferred the wound to her own back. She had screamed in pain and the General had laughed when he realised that any thing he did to the child would be taken up by the mother and had begun to slash wildly at the child's back. Amidst the child's terrified screams and her own sobs of pain Serena's tears had rolled down her face, all except for one. It had floated into the air in front of her, solidifying into a glowing crystal. That had been the last tear to ever come from her. She proceeded to destroy the General while he gaped in astonishment and had transformed into Sailor Moon. She had been weak, bleeding and near catatonic, only her daughter had prevented her from just giving up.
She remembered the scene that had greeted her as she had exited the delivery room, nurses, doctors and patients had been slumped everywhere. The dark General had had them all drained to the point of death so that no one would interrupt him while he was with Serena. She couldn't remember how she had dealt with the youma the dark general had had guarding the hospital, all she knew for the next couple of days was pain.
She had come to her senses to find that she had been 'rescued' by the hospital's next shift. The doctors, nurses, and even visitors who had come after the attack had all pitched in to minister to the victims of an inexplicable epidemic, including the badly injured woman and her infant daughter. They had asked if she wished to see her daughter and as she had looked upon the baby all she had seen was death. Something had been broken in her, her joy of life had previously been battered and bruised but as she looked upon what should be the most precious thing in her life and she had felt nothing.
She had then started all the procedures to give the child up for adoption and she had handed the child over to her new parents three weeks later, the only clue to her legacy being her name, Selene, Moon Goddess. Less than an hour after the happy couple had taken the babe she had run the water in the bathtub of her rented room and had run a kitchen knife along her wrists.
*****
She opened her eyes and silver light made her blink rapidly. Quickly adjusting to the brightness she sat up and looked around her. She was in a strange white room with walls and floor of marble, white and gold curtains hid a large window and around the room the decorations showed a white and gold moon theme. She was sitting in a large canopied bed, again gold and white curtains with moons embroidered around the edges. She had never seen such luxury and the thought that she was in a hospital had been quickly dismissed.
Her musings were halted as she noticed the tiny woman with fairy wings sitting on the side of the bed. She had beautiful long silver hair done in the style Serena herself used to wear, two buns with long pigtails hanging out of them. Her face was tranquil and upon her brow lay a golden crescent moon, softly glimmering with its own light. Not long ago such a prescence would have had some effect upon her but now she merely looked at the lovely woman, not feeling anything.
"My poor child," the woman said softly as she rested an insubstantial hand against Serena's cheek. "You have endured so much pain, I know and but you still have so many things to experience and learn before you finish with this life."
Tears began to roll down the woman's cheeks while Serena just watched, nothing breaking through the walls she had built around herself. The silence stretched out until Serena finally broke it, "Where are we?"
"The palace on the Moon." the woman answered sadly.
"Why?"
"You were dying and I needed time to heal you. Here I have time. I could mend your arms and give you a sanctuary to rest and recover. You would have slept until you were ready to awaken again, when your spirit had healed."
"Why?"
"Because there are a great many things that you still need to do. There are a great many people who need you. Because I could not just stand aside and watch you end your life... your destiny does not involve bleeding to death from self inflicted wounds in some hotel." The woman paused as Serena showed emotion for the first time.
"Destiny? Is it my destiny to watch any one who comes near me die? Is it my destiny to be some kind of Typhoid Mary, death following in my tracks? Over a hundred people have died just because I was in the same general vicinity as them. Stuff destiny, let me have some peace," Serena spat out angrily. She erupted from the bed, blankets and other coverings flying everywhere. She stood to the side of the bed, facing the little woman who now floated midair. Serena realised that she was only wearing a thin silk shift which left her arms and wrists bare. Along her wrists could be seen the scars of her suicide attempt but instead of being the red of fresh wounds they were silvery like old hurts long since mended.
The woman shook her head, "You are still needed in the world and even if I could abide your wish for death I could not in all conscience allow you to cut your life short when you still have so much to accomplish. You are my daughter and hurts to you are equally real to me, I do understand what you feel and given a choice I would have let you continue to sleep until you were prepared to take your place in the world once more but events have not allowed that."
"I don't care!" Serena wailed, "I just want to be left alone-"
"At the cost of Selene's life?" the woman asked quietly. Serena abrubtly closed her mouth and looked at the woman in shock.
"What has Selene got to do with this? She's free now, hidden from the Negaverse which doesn't even know she exists and away from me before I draw enemies down on her."
"That they don't know of her doesn't mean that she's safe from them and that you aren't with her just means she has no one to protect her. We have a little time, I'll try to explain every thing.
"Luna told you that it was your destiny to guard the Moon Princess and that is correct, if you interpret every mother's protective instincts that way. The truth is that the princess you and Luna were looking for, my daughter the Princess Serenity, is yourself-"
"I... guessed that but who are you?"
"I was Queen Serenity, the last ruler of the Moon Kingdom and Silver Millenium. When we were attacked and the moon destroyed I sent my daughter, you, and her murdered court into the future where they would be reborn. Luna would have told you of the safeguards I created in case of the reimmergence of the Negaverse, that you were forced into the role of a warrior is something I regret deeply but is not anything I can change.
"You are needed and no matter how much I would love to help you cast of the burdens of your blood as the queen I can not allow it. For not only must you defend the ordinary populace but your daughter, my grandaughter, has been caught by the Negaverse. Fortunately they do not know who they have but whether or not they discover her identity she will not live much longer.
"She has survived reincarnation and a Negaverse midwife-"
"Reincarnation?" Serena broke in.
Queen Serenity smiled in remembrance, "In the Silver Millenium you, Princess Serenity, had found your soulmate. On your eighteenth birthday the both of you announced your engagement and that night conceived a daughter. The next day you were both killed by the Negaverse. When I sent you all forward in time I also sent your child, to be born to you when the time was right."
Both of them paused lost in memories. Serena remembered the man she'd dreamed of since she was fifteen, a man who had loved her most intimately. Selene's father was ghost she thought and profound grief and loneliness pierced her apathy. The little Queen must have known what she was thinking as she shook off her own memories to go to her daughter.
"You don't think I would separate the two of you do you? I sent his soul with the rest of yours, he too had been reborn and even now awaits your entry into his life." She smiled wryly, "I don't think he really needed my help, he would have followed you anyway."
"Where is he then? Why don't you send him after Selene?"
"He is where he should be and you will meet again in time. He is also engaged in battle against the Negaverse at this time and is not free to seek out your daughter." Serenity replied calmly, "Believe me when I say you are the only one-"
"But I'm not capable of taking care of an infant, at the moment I'd be barely able to care for myself," Serena interrupted, almost whining.
"I thought you'd grown out of that," the Queen lectured sternly.
"Grown out of what?" Serena asked, confused by the nonsequiter.
"Whining," seeing Serena blush Serenity continued, "Now as I was saying, I would have continued to let you sleep further but time is running out. Selene is no longer an infant she is a healthy and active toddler, you have slept for nearly a year. And as for you ability to cope all you lack is will."
Serena sighed and closed her eyes, "All? Will power is not a small lack, without something to drive me I may as well just find the nearest dark general and say, 'here I am, kill me!'"
The Queen smiled and held up her hand. Serena saw a familiar glowing orb appear and she unconsciously moved towards it. As she approached she saw an image reflected in its glowing depths. The image was of a small blonde girl with tears running down her face, her eyes clearly reflecting the terror she was feeling. Serena felt her breath catch in a surge of protectiveness and her walls of indifference fall.
"How can I help her? Where is she?" she whispered as she watched.
"I will show you how to get to her shortly but before I let you go there as some things about yourself, your magic and the crystal that I need to teach you."
"Anything that will let me help her,"
*****
Sailor Moon surveyed the destruction around her, all that remained of the fourth greatest stronghold in the Negaverse was a pile of crumbling ruins and ashes. With a wave of her hand she dispersed the silvery bubble that shielded her precious treasure and she knelt by the child cautiously.
She stretched a hand to touch the sleeping angel's soft cheek and sighed, how could she have ever given this jewel to another. She bit back a soft gasp as he baby girl's sapphire eyes opened, later those eyes would remind her of her dream lover but at that moment all she saw was the absolute trust they had for her and was awed. The toddler's arms stretched towards her and she carefully picked the little princess up and held her close as she utilised the magical lore her mother had bequeathed to her. As the light of the teleportation spell enveloped them Sailor Moon heard her daughter's first word, "Mama!"
*****
That had been the start of four years of running and hiding. They were never able to lose their followers for long and all the magical tricks passed on by her mother and learned on the run couldn't help Serena escape cleanly. Even in places of concentrated energy they could be located and so neither moonchild gained relief through camoflage. No matter what she did Serena could not find the means that she and her daughter were being tracked.
Despite that and despite the increasing loneliness she felt, Serena felt more alive and vital than she had since her parents' murders. Her daughter returning some of that zest for life that she had thought forever gone. Then, not one month ago another attack against innocents had drawn her out, forcing Serena to leave her child as Sailor Moon fulfilled her duty.
The monster had been easily thwarted, too easily and as she rushed back to her daughter Sailor Moon realised the purpose of the attack. While she had been distracted the Negaverse had found the girl through the same means they had been tracking the pair for the past few years. When they had captured Selene as a child they had planted a tracer on her and only her mother's speed and fortitude had saved her from recapture. The Negaverse had taken the girl and left a taunting message, "You have a month to find us and hand over the crystal before the little princess dies."
And with the message a been an illusion showing the entertainment the child's death would bring as she was dismembered bit by bit-
*****
Serena bolted upright, breathing heavily. She looked at the clock and realised that she had dozed of for half an hour. She knew that she needed more sleep but was well aware that any sleep would be plagued by nightmares. When ever she felt threatened she found sleep hard to come by and as she rose from the bed she reflected that she always felt threatened lately.
She rose from the bed and retrieved her laptop computer. It was quite sophisticated, with a few extras that were not common knowledge. Serena sat with it near the room's telephone and hooked up the modem. She logged on and was soon roaming through cyberspace organising their departure. They would need to stay in Japan for a couple more days but after that they could escape to somewhere safe.
*****
The nine men and women, accompanied by one black cat (Artemis was on watch) approached the ice rink. Some were thinking of the battle that had taken place barely two days ago and the monster they'd defeated by the thinnest of margins. Others were thinking of the little girl that was all that remained of the woman they were born to guard and protect. All were thinking of the warrior that had made such a dramatic appearance in their lives, saving them all and one was considering the insights he had gained when she had stood before him.
Darien stood apart as his friends split up and began to skate. He watched as the four couples began an impromptu contest, each twosome trying to outskate the rest. As he watched his mind wandered back to Sailor Moon. For a moment when she had lost her temper at them the barriers along their link had fallen for an instant and he had sensed her emotions. She had almost agreed to stay with them until the mention of destiny had changed her mind. Then he had felt her anger and determination over ride her weariness as she dashed that idea.
He knew that she needed help. The others thought that she was tough as nails, she'd allowed herself to be eaten after all, but Darien was aware of how brittle her strength was. He had no doubt that she would do as she said, she would raise Selene to adulthood, giving her everything she needed and when Selene chose her future path Serena would do everything she could to ensure that Selene was happy. It was what she'd do after that which worried Darien. There had been a weariness in her that Darien did not think was solely due to the battle. Once all her responsibilities were discharged she would have nothing to prevent her from just giving up.
He'd dreamed of her the previous night for the first time in months. Although he regularily dreamed of both her and the princess it was becoming rarer and rarer that his dreams were true visions rather than nocturnal fancies. It had been over five years since he had last dreamt a true dream about the princess and he now he thought that he knew why. His thoughts turned bitter, he could probably give the exact date of her death if he were to date his last dream of her. She had been crying and in agony as he held her and then she had faded right out of his arms. Quite a difference from his dream about them in the Silver Millennium a few months before.
It was about the same time that he'd started dreaming regularly about Serena and Sailor Moon. Most often in these dreams he'd just hold her as he had his princess, neither of them speaking a word. Over the years the dreams occurred with less frequency and when they did come they showed Serena becoming paler and thinner. She held herself further and further apart from him as distancing herself from not only him but from the world. It was becoming obvious that his dreams were telling him that things were becoming more difficult for her. He wondered why she hadn't returned to Tokyo before now to seek his help.
Darien's thoughts were interrupted when a little black haired girl shot past him. Seeing her reminded him of Selene and he watched her running and giggling. He heard a voice calling out, full of joy and mischief, "Leni, come back here!"
"Gotta catch me!" the girl, Leni, called back.
Darien heard a musical laugh, one which made him want to burst into laughter as well. He heard the musical voice call out, "Catch you? Oh just wait 'til I do, then you're gonna get it! Ice down your back alright-"
Darien and turned to see the owner of the lovely voice and enchanting laugh when he was bowled over by a shapely form. He shook his head trying to clear the stars from his eyes as the woman on top of him tried to get her breath back. They both recovered their senses quickly and she rolled off of him getting up in a fluid move. Darien looked up to see a woman with black hair cut as short as his own extending her hand to help him up.
"I'm sorry sir but I didn't see you move until it was too late. I'm very sorry..." she trailed off as she met his eyes, entranced. He, too, was at a loss for words as he stared at a pair of gorgeous brown eyes, like rich chocolate, those eyes seemed a bit out of place on the woman but that didn't dispell their magic. They stood there until Leni called, "Reenie who's he?"
Darien blushed and looked away, after he'd finally got himself under control he looked back to see the woman with her hands on the shoulders of child in front of her. She smiled at him almost shyly and the little girl backed into the woman's hold timidly.
Darien smiled reassuringly at the pair and held his hand out, "Hi, I'm Darien."
The girl looked at the woman who nodded. Her sapphire blue eyes locked with his, the girl reached to place her little hand in his strong one and shook it.
"I'm Leni," she spoke shyly, "'n this is m' Aunt Reenie." Reenie smiled at the girl in approval and the girl stood a little straighter.
Darien looked back to the woman and his heart fluttered as she redirected her smile at him. He noticed a trace of sadness in that smile but it vanished as soon as Leni drew her attention away from him and he thought that he'd been imagining things.
She looked back at him and cocked her head, "I knew a Darien once, when I was just a kid, you're a lot like him..."
For an instant he froze, Reenie - Serena, was it possible? He relaxed quickly and asked casually, "Then I bet you fought like cats and dogs, I'm not an easy person to get on with if he was anything like me you probably hated him."
She grinned wryly, "Actually I had the hugest crush on him, he thought I was a pest but for my part he was the world."
Darien didn't show his disappointment, Serena had absolutley hated him, he'd thought she was a cute kid, someone to watch out for when she grew up but she couldn't stand him. Instead he asked, "What happened?"
She shrugged and began to lead Leni to a bench. He walked with her and leaned against a nearby railing as she helped her niece to put on her skates while answering him. "Nothing much. I grew up and moved away and never saw him again. If I'm lucky he never knew a thing about how I felt. If he had I would have died from embarassment."
She finished with Leni skates and began to don her own. She looked up at him as she finished and asked, "Aren't you going to have a go?"
He shrugged, "In a bit."
She looked at him and nodded, "See ya later then" and slid off on the ice.
Darien watched her glide across to her niece who, though shaky, seemed to be doing well. She seemed familiar and he couldn't help but think that Serena, aka Sailor Moon, might still be in Tokyo. He discarded the thought, Sailor Moon probably teleported as far away from Tokyo as she could get and the only similarity between his Meatball Head and the elegant skater on the ice was that they'd both known a Darien when they were young. He groaned at himself, he was fixated on Serena Tsukino and knew it. He looked back out at the ice seeing all his friends having a ball and seeing the two girls who had just made his aquaintence. He sat down and put his skates on, sitting on the sidelines wouldn't do anything other than drive him crazy with ifs and maybes, and on the ice surely something would distract him from thinking in circles... or someone.
*****
Serena glided around the ice, keeping an eye on Selene. She saw Darien step on to the ice out of the corner of her eye and smiled to herself. She was pretty sure he was Darien Chiba, the same Darien that she'd fought with, hated and adored at the same time. He seemed to have mellowed over the past decade, but since he clearly didn't recognise the 'Meatball Head' she couldn't be sure.
A mutual friend of theirs, Andrew, had once told her that she was the only one that he tormented, she'd replied sarcastically that it was an honour that she could have done without. If he knew who she was he'd probably start on about how hair dye couldn't make a blonde intelligent and she sighed, Serena missed the jerk and the arguments they'd had. Those fights had been fun and she'd told him the truth when she'd said she'd had a crush on him. She hadn't realised until after she'd moved that she'd fallen for him harder than she had for Tuxedo Mask.
She turned her attention back to Selene and began to teach her some tricks. She was helping skate backwards when something knocked the skates right out from under her. Her fall was broken by something soft which groaned. Still stunned, Serena looked down to see Darien desperately trying to get his breath back. She carefully moved off him for the second time that day and offered him her hand.
He stared at it, confused, for a couple of minutes before his wits returned and he grasped it. She pulled him up only to have him overbalance once more this time landing on top of her. She looked up into his sapphire blue eyes and remembered why she'd idolised him as he gave her the half smile that used to drive her crazy.
"I'm sorry-" he began as he tried to regain his footing.
"Don't worry about it," she said dryly as she got up and took a prudent step away from him as he fought for balance. As he was about to fall once more, she planted her feet firmly and grabbed his arm. He returned her grip as if his life depended on it and watching him she thought it might.
"Haven't skated before?" she asked kindly.
"Not for a while, at any rate," he replied as he looked at her thankfully.
Selene had been watching them and tried not to giggle at the man. When it seemed as if her 'Aunt' had gotten him stabilised she offered him her hand.
"We'll help you if you like," she said. He grinned and reached to take it gingerly.
The two females looked at each other and grinned identically and then Selene began to give Darien some instructions, "You're trying to walk, that's not how you do it, you gotta glide... like this." The girl let go of Darien and took off, at first slowly then faster as she started having more fun. Moments later it became obvious that she'd forgotten the adults as she raced off.
Serena sighed loudly and saw Darien look at her, cheerfully sympathetic. "Well she did give some good advice," she said wryly, "Try gliding rather than walking and you might have more chance at staying upright."
Darien's expression was skeptical but, keeping a good grip on her, he tried to apply her advice.
*****
Marcus looked at his enchanting partner and forgot what he was about to say. It wasn't until after she'd cleared her throat several times and then waved her hands in front of his eyes that he rejoined the real world. "Huh?" he grunted, confused.
"I was asking what did you want to tell me?" Mina replied, exasperated, with her hands on her hips.
Marcus shook his head and smiled when he remembered, "Look over there," he said motioning, "I think someone's found something to distract himself from his worries."
He saw his girlfriend look where he was pointing and then do a double take, her expression shocked. "Is that Darien? With a woman?" she asked disbelievingly.
"Funny looking man if it isn't," Marcus joked back.
Mina punched him lightly while still staring at the pair. They saw Darien almost take another fall, saved only by the timely intervention of his skating partner. Mina began to laugh, "He's fallen for her."
"Literally," her lover interrupted.
Suddenly Mina stopped laughing, "Marcus, that girl, isn't she skating where the ice is a bit thin?"
Marcus looked and saw the child doing figure eights. He scanned for the sign that he knew should be there, "You're right," he answered shortly, "But I can't see the sign, I know it was there yesterday... I don't think she realises that she's in trouble... "YO DARIEN!." His bellow echoed across the ice and all of the skaters, including Darien's unknown partner, turned to him. Marcus motioned to the child but before he could say anything about the thickness of the ice she was on the strange woman's eyes widened and her expression became horrified.
Instants later all could hear the cracking of the ice and the sudden, panicked scream, "SELENE!" Ten pairs of eyes widened in shock as Darien's partner shot away from him leaving him struggling for balance as she raced to reach the child.
Her watchers saw her skid to a stop near the immobile girl who suddenly threw herself into the woman's arms. None could do anything as they saw the ice crack and begin to tip. They watched in horror as the float the pair were on begin to roll over dooming the two to a dunking and slow drowning. Their horror changed to shock as the woman pulled the child closer to herself, gathered her strength and jumped. The force of her jump rocked the ice, sending the tipping float completely under for a moment as the woman landed safely, having completed a jump any Scout would respect.
Marcus looked to Mina and saw the same thought on her face that was going through his head, Sailor Moon.
*****
Serena hugged Selene close to her, "Oh godess Rat, that was a close one," Selene just hugged the woman tighter, "I think we'd better go now Rat, go and get ready for our plane, how's that sound?"
"o..O.K." the girl stuttered.
Serena suddenly stood and whirled as she heard a sound behind her, the recent episode having undone all the good to her nerves that the peace and quiet of the last two days had accomplished. She saw Darien and let out her breath slowly, forcing herself out of the battle ready state she'd slipped into involuntarily. She saw him staring at the pair of them in shock and realised that he'd seen her use magically enhanced muscles to evade death. Not knowing how to explain the unexplainable she avoided the topic, "We're fine now but I think we'd better take off, she's rather shaken up."
Darien didn't leave he just looked at the both them more intently. Serena grew uneasy as he did nothing other than stare at her for a moment. The jump was amazing but this was a city where a monster could be the one delivering your morning paper. Her unease grew as she noticed the other skaters gathering around them, obviously deferring to Darien.
"Serena?" her attention whipped back to Darien and she didn't even pause before answering, "Huh?"
"You are Serena Tsukino aren't you?" he said it more as a statement than a question and Serena's survival instincts kicked in fully.
"What are you going on about? Serena? My name is Irene Keenan, Reenie for short. Look my niece just got terrified and you're all there staring when you should be getting out of my way while I get her off of the ice."
She started to lead Selene past Darien and he reached for her shoulder, attempting to stop her. He was unprepared for her grabbing his arm, twisting and sending him flying into two of his friends. "Stay away from us, I don't know what kind of creeps you are but come near us and I'll scream bloody murder before putting you all in body casts." She picked the girl up again and skated off quickly while her audience just looked on shocked.
*****
Darien needed the help of both Jason and Zac to rise and stay on his feet as he looked at the fleeing pair. By the time he'd regained his breath and his balance they'd already disappeared. He knew what he had to do, when Serena, it was Serena he had no doubt about it, had realised where Leni, Selene, was all the blocks she'd placed over the link had faded once more and it had reasserted itself full strength. She was blocking it again now, but for some reason the blocks were not as strong, he could feel her presense still in Tokyo He realised that the short moments they'd spent together just a few minutes ago, had strengthened the link.
"Is it her?" he heard Mina ask distantly as he decided his course of action.
"Dare?" Marcus placed his hand on Darien's shoulder and Darien turned to his friends.
"They're going to catch a plane this afternoon, there're three airports we need to cover, we'll split up into groups of three. We know what she looks like now and we know what she's doing, we can find them," he stated inarguably.
"Darien, are you sure we should? I mean it really sounds as if she doesn't want to be found," Lita asked unsure.
Darien's attention focused on the here and now and he answered seriously, "We have to. Selene is a moon princess and we all have a duty to protect her, even my generals owe the moon their secondary allegience. And Serena... Serena is one of us, no matter what you might think my reasons are, she belongs with us, and at the moment she needs our help. No matter what she might think as well."
"MAMA!"
The woman picked the little girl up and carried her out of the ally. Just a few metres away was the hotel where the woman had earlier rented a room. The night was half gone and so the pair passed no one as they made their way to their room. As soon as they entered the woman took the child into the bathroom where she ran a warm bath and stripped the girl of her filthy clothing. Selene shivered for a couple of minutes even after being immersed in the warm water, her clothing had been unsuited to winter in Northern latitudes and had not offered her much protection against the cold.
The women saw a package on the bathroom counter and read the note attached to it. 'Ms Irene Keenan, enclosed are the purchases you requested, you received 204 yen in change and the docket is included, yours faithfully Cara Siruna, Manager.'
"Irene Keenan!" the woman muttered as she unwrapped the parcel, "I am Serena Tsukino... please if there is a diety listening don't make it necessary for me to give up my name. It's the only thing I have left of my parents..." the packaging fell away to reveal a pair of scissors, some hair dye and a small red parka. Serena hung the parka up near the door then took the scissors and hair dye and placed them next to the bath.
A tired little girl looked at her and yawned, "Can I get out now Mama?"
"Soon Leni," her mother answered, "I've just got to do some things to your hair so you don't look the same, sort of like playing dress up."
"Dress up?" Selene asked with more interest, "What are you goin to do?"
"Well I thought I'd change the colour of your hair and cut it a bit..."
"Make it look like yours?"
"Well the same colour maybe but I won't cut it as short, I think I'll cut it up to your chin, what do you think?"
An hour later Serena tucked the now ebon haired child into bed. Her cropped curls framed her face and her sapphire eyes, shades darker than her mother's, closed. Serena caressed the child's forehead, exerted a small amount of the healing magic she had been forced to learn over the past few years. Selene's sleep would now be dreamless, uninterrupted by nightmares about the events of the past few weeks. Unlike her mother.
Serena lay down beside the sleeping child, just watching her breathe. She regarded the tale she told Tuxedo Mask and the others the truth. That although she herself still lived, the Princess Serenity was well and truly dead. She remembered the circumstances leading up to the birth of Selene, the train of events that began with a talking cat and ended in the death of all of her ideals. She remembered...
*****
The day she gotten home to find her parents' battered bodies in their bedroom she'd been seventeen. She'd discovered her brother bleeding to death and had not been able to do anything other than hold him as he breathed his last. Traumatised she left his body near their parents' and had gone to her own room to find the words, 'You're next Sailor Moon!' scrawled over her bedroom wall in blood, her brother's dismembered arm having been a gruesome paint brush and left, discarded on her bed. She beserked, her vision had been swamped with red and by the time it had cleared again she'd been across the street watching the silver flames cool into the red of an ordinary house fire.
Several months later, another city, another country, she'd been walking down the street with a friend for a late birthday dinner when a man had jumped out and demanded all their valuables. Neither had protested as they passed their wallets and watches to the mugger but, even so, he had emptied his gun into the pair. The last thing she remembered of that day was his face close to hers, his eyes glowing red, "Die Bitch."
A week later an anxious doctor had sat next to her hospital bed and told her that her friend was dead and that it had been a very close thing with her and her child. It was the first she'd ever known of the baby who would one day be Selene and her first reaction had been denial. She'd never even kissed a male other than her father or brother how could it have happened? Once the doctor had understood that her denial stemmed from real confusion not self delusion she too could not see how the child had been conceived. A divine birthday present she had joked when she dated the conception as the night of Serena's eighteenth birthday.
That had been the dawning of the realisation that the Moon Princess was not safe in Tokyo with Luna. On the night of her birthday she had dreamed of a Prince who had loved the Moon Princess and had shown his love in the most persuasive way possible on the night of the princess' eighteenth birthday. She had dreamed of a man with with unruly black hair and eyes the deepest sapphire blue and in her dream she had felt the spark of new life they had created between them. As she had realised that that the dream was a true memory, she had once been the Moon Princess and had been reincarnated in the present after an untimely death, her world exploded. Literally.
When the smoke had cleared she had seen the bodies of patients, nurses and her own doctor littering the debris. The Negaverse had stumbled across her purely by accident in their never ending quest for conquest and had decided to rid themselves of an irritant while it was weak. She had gone on to thwart them but that could not bring back the dozens of dead who had just been in the wrong place. She learned that some of those who served the Negaverse could sense her energy signature when she stayed in one place for too long, her magic would begin to permeate her surroundings and alert those sensitive to her general location.
The learning came at a high cost. Several weeks after she'd been shot she had found a secretarial job but the Negaverse had found her energy signature and launched an attack to draw her out. She'd done her duty and gone to defend the world aginst evil but during the battle the office building she had worked in had been caught in the crossfire. While she had been disracted rescuing people from the flame she had been seriously wounded and more than thirty people had still died.
Every time she had found a place to settle the Negaverse would home in on her and the body count would rise. She had realised that unless she settled in a place of concentrated energy like Tokyo or New York she had to stay on the road. Such places where the main targets for attacks and she didn't want her child anywhere near the focal point for any Negaverse attacks.
She had still been travelling the day Selene had been born. When she had collapsed in a cafe customers had called an ambulance and had her taken to hospital. Unknown to everyone the coming birth was emmitting an enormous amount of concentrated energy and the Negaverse had sent agents to master it.
Serena had laboured for five hours before Selene had been born and hadn't noticed the lack of nurses until after the baby girl's first cry. She had looked over to find that it had not been a doctor holding the infant but a Negaverse General. He had laughed at her and demanded the Imperial Silver Crystal. She hadn't had it and he carried through on his threat to the child. Near him lay a tray of surgical tools and he had grasped the scalple and used it on the newborn's back.
Serena had seen the knife decending and had not been able to prevent it. As she watched her enemy begin to mutilate her child she had drawn a power from somewhere deep inside herself and transferred the wound to her own back. She had screamed in pain and the General had laughed when he realised that any thing he did to the child would be taken up by the mother and had begun to slash wildly at the child's back. Amidst the child's terrified screams and her own sobs of pain Serena's tears had rolled down her face, all except for one. It had floated into the air in front of her, solidifying into a glowing crystal. That had been the last tear to ever come from her. She proceeded to destroy the General while he gaped in astonishment and had transformed into Sailor Moon. She had been weak, bleeding and near catatonic, only her daughter had prevented her from just giving up.
She remembered the scene that had greeted her as she had exited the delivery room, nurses, doctors and patients had been slumped everywhere. The dark General had had them all drained to the point of death so that no one would interrupt him while he was with Serena. She couldn't remember how she had dealt with the youma the dark general had had guarding the hospital, all she knew for the next couple of days was pain.
She had come to her senses to find that she had been 'rescued' by the hospital's next shift. The doctors, nurses, and even visitors who had come after the attack had all pitched in to minister to the victims of an inexplicable epidemic, including the badly injured woman and her infant daughter. They had asked if she wished to see her daughter and as she had looked upon the baby all she had seen was death. Something had been broken in her, her joy of life had previously been battered and bruised but as she looked upon what should be the most precious thing in her life and she had felt nothing.
She had then started all the procedures to give the child up for adoption and she had handed the child over to her new parents three weeks later, the only clue to her legacy being her name, Selene, Moon Goddess. Less than an hour after the happy couple had taken the babe she had run the water in the bathtub of her rented room and had run a kitchen knife along her wrists.
*****
She opened her eyes and silver light made her blink rapidly. Quickly adjusting to the brightness she sat up and looked around her. She was in a strange white room with walls and floor of marble, white and gold curtains hid a large window and around the room the decorations showed a white and gold moon theme. She was sitting in a large canopied bed, again gold and white curtains with moons embroidered around the edges. She had never seen such luxury and the thought that she was in a hospital had been quickly dismissed.
Her musings were halted as she noticed the tiny woman with fairy wings sitting on the side of the bed. She had beautiful long silver hair done in the style Serena herself used to wear, two buns with long pigtails hanging out of them. Her face was tranquil and upon her brow lay a golden crescent moon, softly glimmering with its own light. Not long ago such a prescence would have had some effect upon her but now she merely looked at the lovely woman, not feeling anything.
"My poor child," the woman said softly as she rested an insubstantial hand against Serena's cheek. "You have endured so much pain, I know and but you still have so many things to experience and learn before you finish with this life."
Tears began to roll down the woman's cheeks while Serena just watched, nothing breaking through the walls she had built around herself. The silence stretched out until Serena finally broke it, "Where are we?"
"The palace on the Moon." the woman answered sadly.
"Why?"
"You were dying and I needed time to heal you. Here I have time. I could mend your arms and give you a sanctuary to rest and recover. You would have slept until you were ready to awaken again, when your spirit had healed."
"Why?"
"Because there are a great many things that you still need to do. There are a great many people who need you. Because I could not just stand aside and watch you end your life... your destiny does not involve bleeding to death from self inflicted wounds in some hotel." The woman paused as Serena showed emotion for the first time.
"Destiny? Is it my destiny to watch any one who comes near me die? Is it my destiny to be some kind of Typhoid Mary, death following in my tracks? Over a hundred people have died just because I was in the same general vicinity as them. Stuff destiny, let me have some peace," Serena spat out angrily. She erupted from the bed, blankets and other coverings flying everywhere. She stood to the side of the bed, facing the little woman who now floated midair. Serena realised that she was only wearing a thin silk shift which left her arms and wrists bare. Along her wrists could be seen the scars of her suicide attempt but instead of being the red of fresh wounds they were silvery like old hurts long since mended.
The woman shook her head, "You are still needed in the world and even if I could abide your wish for death I could not in all conscience allow you to cut your life short when you still have so much to accomplish. You are my daughter and hurts to you are equally real to me, I do understand what you feel and given a choice I would have let you continue to sleep until you were prepared to take your place in the world once more but events have not allowed that."
"I don't care!" Serena wailed, "I just want to be left alone-"
"At the cost of Selene's life?" the woman asked quietly. Serena abrubtly closed her mouth and looked at the woman in shock.
"What has Selene got to do with this? She's free now, hidden from the Negaverse which doesn't even know she exists and away from me before I draw enemies down on her."
"That they don't know of her doesn't mean that she's safe from them and that you aren't with her just means she has no one to protect her. We have a little time, I'll try to explain every thing.
"Luna told you that it was your destiny to guard the Moon Princess and that is correct, if you interpret every mother's protective instincts that way. The truth is that the princess you and Luna were looking for, my daughter the Princess Serenity, is yourself-"
"I... guessed that but who are you?"
"I was Queen Serenity, the last ruler of the Moon Kingdom and Silver Millenium. When we were attacked and the moon destroyed I sent my daughter, you, and her murdered court into the future where they would be reborn. Luna would have told you of the safeguards I created in case of the reimmergence of the Negaverse, that you were forced into the role of a warrior is something I regret deeply but is not anything I can change.
"You are needed and no matter how much I would love to help you cast of the burdens of your blood as the queen I can not allow it. For not only must you defend the ordinary populace but your daughter, my grandaughter, has been caught by the Negaverse. Fortunately they do not know who they have but whether or not they discover her identity she will not live much longer.
"She has survived reincarnation and a Negaverse midwife-"
"Reincarnation?" Serena broke in.
Queen Serenity smiled in remembrance, "In the Silver Millenium you, Princess Serenity, had found your soulmate. On your eighteenth birthday the both of you announced your engagement and that night conceived a daughter. The next day you were both killed by the Negaverse. When I sent you all forward in time I also sent your child, to be born to you when the time was right."
Both of them paused lost in memories. Serena remembered the man she'd dreamed of since she was fifteen, a man who had loved her most intimately. Selene's father was ghost she thought and profound grief and loneliness pierced her apathy. The little Queen must have known what she was thinking as she shook off her own memories to go to her daughter.
"You don't think I would separate the two of you do you? I sent his soul with the rest of yours, he too had been reborn and even now awaits your entry into his life." She smiled wryly, "I don't think he really needed my help, he would have followed you anyway."
"Where is he then? Why don't you send him after Selene?"
"He is where he should be and you will meet again in time. He is also engaged in battle against the Negaverse at this time and is not free to seek out your daughter." Serenity replied calmly, "Believe me when I say you are the only one-"
"But I'm not capable of taking care of an infant, at the moment I'd be barely able to care for myself," Serena interrupted, almost whining.
"I thought you'd grown out of that," the Queen lectured sternly.
"Grown out of what?" Serena asked, confused by the nonsequiter.
"Whining," seeing Serena blush Serenity continued, "Now as I was saying, I would have continued to let you sleep further but time is running out. Selene is no longer an infant she is a healthy and active toddler, you have slept for nearly a year. And as for you ability to cope all you lack is will."
Serena sighed and closed her eyes, "All? Will power is not a small lack, without something to drive me I may as well just find the nearest dark general and say, 'here I am, kill me!'"
The Queen smiled and held up her hand. Serena saw a familiar glowing orb appear and she unconsciously moved towards it. As she approached she saw an image reflected in its glowing depths. The image was of a small blonde girl with tears running down her face, her eyes clearly reflecting the terror she was feeling. Serena felt her breath catch in a surge of protectiveness and her walls of indifference fall.
"How can I help her? Where is she?" she whispered as she watched.
"I will show you how to get to her shortly but before I let you go there as some things about yourself, your magic and the crystal that I need to teach you."
"Anything that will let me help her,"
*****
Sailor Moon surveyed the destruction around her, all that remained of the fourth greatest stronghold in the Negaverse was a pile of crumbling ruins and ashes. With a wave of her hand she dispersed the silvery bubble that shielded her precious treasure and she knelt by the child cautiously.
She stretched a hand to touch the sleeping angel's soft cheek and sighed, how could she have ever given this jewel to another. She bit back a soft gasp as he baby girl's sapphire eyes opened, later those eyes would remind her of her dream lover but at that moment all she saw was the absolute trust they had for her and was awed. The toddler's arms stretched towards her and she carefully picked the little princess up and held her close as she utilised the magical lore her mother had bequeathed to her. As the light of the teleportation spell enveloped them Sailor Moon heard her daughter's first word, "Mama!"
*****
That had been the start of four years of running and hiding. They were never able to lose their followers for long and all the magical tricks passed on by her mother and learned on the run couldn't help Serena escape cleanly. Even in places of concentrated energy they could be located and so neither moonchild gained relief through camoflage. No matter what she did Serena could not find the means that she and her daughter were being tracked.
Despite that and despite the increasing loneliness she felt, Serena felt more alive and vital than she had since her parents' murders. Her daughter returning some of that zest for life that she had thought forever gone. Then, not one month ago another attack against innocents had drawn her out, forcing Serena to leave her child as Sailor Moon fulfilled her duty.
The monster had been easily thwarted, too easily and as she rushed back to her daughter Sailor Moon realised the purpose of the attack. While she had been distracted the Negaverse had found the girl through the same means they had been tracking the pair for the past few years. When they had captured Selene as a child they had planted a tracer on her and only her mother's speed and fortitude had saved her from recapture. The Negaverse had taken the girl and left a taunting message, "You have a month to find us and hand over the crystal before the little princess dies."
And with the message a been an illusion showing the entertainment the child's death would bring as she was dismembered bit by bit-
*****
Serena bolted upright, breathing heavily. She looked at the clock and realised that she had dozed of for half an hour. She knew that she needed more sleep but was well aware that any sleep would be plagued by nightmares. When ever she felt threatened she found sleep hard to come by and as she rose from the bed she reflected that she always felt threatened lately.
She rose from the bed and retrieved her laptop computer. It was quite sophisticated, with a few extras that were not common knowledge. Serena sat with it near the room's telephone and hooked up the modem. She logged on and was soon roaming through cyberspace organising their departure. They would need to stay in Japan for a couple more days but after that they could escape to somewhere safe.
*****
The nine men and women, accompanied by one black cat (Artemis was on watch) approached the ice rink. Some were thinking of the battle that had taken place barely two days ago and the monster they'd defeated by the thinnest of margins. Others were thinking of the little girl that was all that remained of the woman they were born to guard and protect. All were thinking of the warrior that had made such a dramatic appearance in their lives, saving them all and one was considering the insights he had gained when she had stood before him.
Darien stood apart as his friends split up and began to skate. He watched as the four couples began an impromptu contest, each twosome trying to outskate the rest. As he watched his mind wandered back to Sailor Moon. For a moment when she had lost her temper at them the barriers along their link had fallen for an instant and he had sensed her emotions. She had almost agreed to stay with them until the mention of destiny had changed her mind. Then he had felt her anger and determination over ride her weariness as she dashed that idea.
He knew that she needed help. The others thought that she was tough as nails, she'd allowed herself to be eaten after all, but Darien was aware of how brittle her strength was. He had no doubt that she would do as she said, she would raise Selene to adulthood, giving her everything she needed and when Selene chose her future path Serena would do everything she could to ensure that Selene was happy. It was what she'd do after that which worried Darien. There had been a weariness in her that Darien did not think was solely due to the battle. Once all her responsibilities were discharged she would have nothing to prevent her from just giving up.
He'd dreamed of her the previous night for the first time in months. Although he regularily dreamed of both her and the princess it was becoming rarer and rarer that his dreams were true visions rather than nocturnal fancies. It had been over five years since he had last dreamt a true dream about the princess and he now he thought that he knew why. His thoughts turned bitter, he could probably give the exact date of her death if he were to date his last dream of her. She had been crying and in agony as he held her and then she had faded right out of his arms. Quite a difference from his dream about them in the Silver Millennium a few months before.
It was about the same time that he'd started dreaming regularly about Serena and Sailor Moon. Most often in these dreams he'd just hold her as he had his princess, neither of them speaking a word. Over the years the dreams occurred with less frequency and when they did come they showed Serena becoming paler and thinner. She held herself further and further apart from him as distancing herself from not only him but from the world. It was becoming obvious that his dreams were telling him that things were becoming more difficult for her. He wondered why she hadn't returned to Tokyo before now to seek his help.
Darien's thoughts were interrupted when a little black haired girl shot past him. Seeing her reminded him of Selene and he watched her running and giggling. He heard a voice calling out, full of joy and mischief, "Leni, come back here!"
"Gotta catch me!" the girl, Leni, called back.
Darien heard a musical laugh, one which made him want to burst into laughter as well. He heard the musical voice call out, "Catch you? Oh just wait 'til I do, then you're gonna get it! Ice down your back alright-"
Darien and turned to see the owner of the lovely voice and enchanting laugh when he was bowled over by a shapely form. He shook his head trying to clear the stars from his eyes as the woman on top of him tried to get her breath back. They both recovered their senses quickly and she rolled off of him getting up in a fluid move. Darien looked up to see a woman with black hair cut as short as his own extending her hand to help him up.
"I'm sorry sir but I didn't see you move until it was too late. I'm very sorry..." she trailed off as she met his eyes, entranced. He, too, was at a loss for words as he stared at a pair of gorgeous brown eyes, like rich chocolate, those eyes seemed a bit out of place on the woman but that didn't dispell their magic. They stood there until Leni called, "Reenie who's he?"
Darien blushed and looked away, after he'd finally got himself under control he looked back to see the woman with her hands on the shoulders of child in front of her. She smiled at him almost shyly and the little girl backed into the woman's hold timidly.
Darien smiled reassuringly at the pair and held his hand out, "Hi, I'm Darien."
The girl looked at the woman who nodded. Her sapphire blue eyes locked with his, the girl reached to place her little hand in his strong one and shook it.
"I'm Leni," she spoke shyly, "'n this is m' Aunt Reenie." Reenie smiled at the girl in approval and the girl stood a little straighter.
Darien looked back to the woman and his heart fluttered as she redirected her smile at him. He noticed a trace of sadness in that smile but it vanished as soon as Leni drew her attention away from him and he thought that he'd been imagining things.
She looked back at him and cocked her head, "I knew a Darien once, when I was just a kid, you're a lot like him..."
For an instant he froze, Reenie - Serena, was it possible? He relaxed quickly and asked casually, "Then I bet you fought like cats and dogs, I'm not an easy person to get on with if he was anything like me you probably hated him."
She grinned wryly, "Actually I had the hugest crush on him, he thought I was a pest but for my part he was the world."
Darien didn't show his disappointment, Serena had absolutley hated him, he'd thought she was a cute kid, someone to watch out for when she grew up but she couldn't stand him. Instead he asked, "What happened?"
She shrugged and began to lead Leni to a bench. He walked with her and leaned against a nearby railing as she helped her niece to put on her skates while answering him. "Nothing much. I grew up and moved away and never saw him again. If I'm lucky he never knew a thing about how I felt. If he had I would have died from embarassment."
She finished with Leni skates and began to don her own. She looked up at him as she finished and asked, "Aren't you going to have a go?"
He shrugged, "In a bit."
She looked at him and nodded, "See ya later then" and slid off on the ice.
Darien watched her glide across to her niece who, though shaky, seemed to be doing well. She seemed familiar and he couldn't help but think that Serena, aka Sailor Moon, might still be in Tokyo. He discarded the thought, Sailor Moon probably teleported as far away from Tokyo as she could get and the only similarity between his Meatball Head and the elegant skater on the ice was that they'd both known a Darien when they were young. He groaned at himself, he was fixated on Serena Tsukino and knew it. He looked back out at the ice seeing all his friends having a ball and seeing the two girls who had just made his aquaintence. He sat down and put his skates on, sitting on the sidelines wouldn't do anything other than drive him crazy with ifs and maybes, and on the ice surely something would distract him from thinking in circles... or someone.
*****
Serena glided around the ice, keeping an eye on Selene. She saw Darien step on to the ice out of the corner of her eye and smiled to herself. She was pretty sure he was Darien Chiba, the same Darien that she'd fought with, hated and adored at the same time. He seemed to have mellowed over the past decade, but since he clearly didn't recognise the 'Meatball Head' she couldn't be sure.
A mutual friend of theirs, Andrew, had once told her that she was the only one that he tormented, she'd replied sarcastically that it was an honour that she could have done without. If he knew who she was he'd probably start on about how hair dye couldn't make a blonde intelligent and she sighed, Serena missed the jerk and the arguments they'd had. Those fights had been fun and she'd told him the truth when she'd said she'd had a crush on him. She hadn't realised until after she'd moved that she'd fallen for him harder than she had for Tuxedo Mask.
She turned her attention back to Selene and began to teach her some tricks. She was helping skate backwards when something knocked the skates right out from under her. Her fall was broken by something soft which groaned. Still stunned, Serena looked down to see Darien desperately trying to get his breath back. She carefully moved off him for the second time that day and offered him her hand.
He stared at it, confused, for a couple of minutes before his wits returned and he grasped it. She pulled him up only to have him overbalance once more this time landing on top of her. She looked up into his sapphire blue eyes and remembered why she'd idolised him as he gave her the half smile that used to drive her crazy.
"I'm sorry-" he began as he tried to regain his footing.
"Don't worry about it," she said dryly as she got up and took a prudent step away from him as he fought for balance. As he was about to fall once more, she planted her feet firmly and grabbed his arm. He returned her grip as if his life depended on it and watching him she thought it might.
"Haven't skated before?" she asked kindly.
"Not for a while, at any rate," he replied as he looked at her thankfully.
Selene had been watching them and tried not to giggle at the man. When it seemed as if her 'Aunt' had gotten him stabilised she offered him her hand.
"We'll help you if you like," she said. He grinned and reached to take it gingerly.
The two females looked at each other and grinned identically and then Selene began to give Darien some instructions, "You're trying to walk, that's not how you do it, you gotta glide... like this." The girl let go of Darien and took off, at first slowly then faster as she started having more fun. Moments later it became obvious that she'd forgotten the adults as she raced off.
Serena sighed loudly and saw Darien look at her, cheerfully sympathetic. "Well she did give some good advice," she said wryly, "Try gliding rather than walking and you might have more chance at staying upright."
Darien's expression was skeptical but, keeping a good grip on her, he tried to apply her advice.
*****
Marcus looked at his enchanting partner and forgot what he was about to say. It wasn't until after she'd cleared her throat several times and then waved her hands in front of his eyes that he rejoined the real world. "Huh?" he grunted, confused.
"I was asking what did you want to tell me?" Mina replied, exasperated, with her hands on her hips.
Marcus shook his head and smiled when he remembered, "Look over there," he said motioning, "I think someone's found something to distract himself from his worries."
He saw his girlfriend look where he was pointing and then do a double take, her expression shocked. "Is that Darien? With a woman?" she asked disbelievingly.
"Funny looking man if it isn't," Marcus joked back.
Mina punched him lightly while still staring at the pair. They saw Darien almost take another fall, saved only by the timely intervention of his skating partner. Mina began to laugh, "He's fallen for her."
"Literally," her lover interrupted.
Suddenly Mina stopped laughing, "Marcus, that girl, isn't she skating where the ice is a bit thin?"
Marcus looked and saw the child doing figure eights. He scanned for the sign that he knew should be there, "You're right," he answered shortly, "But I can't see the sign, I know it was there yesterday... I don't think she realises that she's in trouble... "YO DARIEN!." His bellow echoed across the ice and all of the skaters, including Darien's unknown partner, turned to him. Marcus motioned to the child but before he could say anything about the thickness of the ice she was on the strange woman's eyes widened and her expression became horrified.
Instants later all could hear the cracking of the ice and the sudden, panicked scream, "SELENE!" Ten pairs of eyes widened in shock as Darien's partner shot away from him leaving him struggling for balance as she raced to reach the child.
Her watchers saw her skid to a stop near the immobile girl who suddenly threw herself into the woman's arms. None could do anything as they saw the ice crack and begin to tip. They watched in horror as the float the pair were on begin to roll over dooming the two to a dunking and slow drowning. Their horror changed to shock as the woman pulled the child closer to herself, gathered her strength and jumped. The force of her jump rocked the ice, sending the tipping float completely under for a moment as the woman landed safely, having completed a jump any Scout would respect.
Marcus looked to Mina and saw the same thought on her face that was going through his head, Sailor Moon.
*****
Serena hugged Selene close to her, "Oh godess Rat, that was a close one," Selene just hugged the woman tighter, "I think we'd better go now Rat, go and get ready for our plane, how's that sound?"
"o..O.K." the girl stuttered.
Serena suddenly stood and whirled as she heard a sound behind her, the recent episode having undone all the good to her nerves that the peace and quiet of the last two days had accomplished. She saw Darien and let out her breath slowly, forcing herself out of the battle ready state she'd slipped into involuntarily. She saw him staring at the pair of them in shock and realised that he'd seen her use magically enhanced muscles to evade death. Not knowing how to explain the unexplainable she avoided the topic, "We're fine now but I think we'd better take off, she's rather shaken up."
Darien didn't leave he just looked at the both them more intently. Serena grew uneasy as he did nothing other than stare at her for a moment. The jump was amazing but this was a city where a monster could be the one delivering your morning paper. Her unease grew as she noticed the other skaters gathering around them, obviously deferring to Darien.
"Serena?" her attention whipped back to Darien and she didn't even pause before answering, "Huh?"
"You are Serena Tsukino aren't you?" he said it more as a statement than a question and Serena's survival instincts kicked in fully.
"What are you going on about? Serena? My name is Irene Keenan, Reenie for short. Look my niece just got terrified and you're all there staring when you should be getting out of my way while I get her off of the ice."
She started to lead Selene past Darien and he reached for her shoulder, attempting to stop her. He was unprepared for her grabbing his arm, twisting and sending him flying into two of his friends. "Stay away from us, I don't know what kind of creeps you are but come near us and I'll scream bloody murder before putting you all in body casts." She picked the girl up again and skated off quickly while her audience just looked on shocked.
*****
Darien needed the help of both Jason and Zac to rise and stay on his feet as he looked at the fleeing pair. By the time he'd regained his breath and his balance they'd already disappeared. He knew what he had to do, when Serena, it was Serena he had no doubt about it, had realised where Leni, Selene, was all the blocks she'd placed over the link had faded once more and it had reasserted itself full strength. She was blocking it again now, but for some reason the blocks were not as strong, he could feel her presense still in Tokyo He realised that the short moments they'd spent together just a few minutes ago, had strengthened the link.
"Is it her?" he heard Mina ask distantly as he decided his course of action.
"Dare?" Marcus placed his hand on Darien's shoulder and Darien turned to his friends.
"They're going to catch a plane this afternoon, there're three airports we need to cover, we'll split up into groups of three. We know what she looks like now and we know what she's doing, we can find them," he stated inarguably.
"Darien, are you sure we should? I mean it really sounds as if she doesn't want to be found," Lita asked unsure.
Darien's attention focused on the here and now and he answered seriously, "We have to. Selene is a moon princess and we all have a duty to protect her, even my generals owe the moon their secondary allegience. And Serena... Serena is one of us, no matter what you might think my reasons are, she belongs with us, and at the moment she needs our help. No matter what she might think as well."