The Class Act: The Final Chapter
Disclaimer: still don't own Sailormoon.
Sorry about the mix up with Chapter 7, I've fixed it and here's the next chapter.
Thanx for letting me know Eva!!! I really appreciate it.
Remember what happened last time? Then read on.
The world seemed to stop revolving. Rubeus blinked, not exactly
absorbing what she'd just said. Not that he had time to, because Serena
jammed a fist into his gut. He spluttered as he sailed through the air.
The only sound was Rubeus's body ricocheting of a stone wall. Nobody
moved as Rubeus sagged to the ground. Serena stood over him, her face
distorted with disgust.
"What?" he managed to gasp. His hands held his stomach where a
large burn marked his vest. Serena ignored him and turned back to the
Sailor Scouts. She walked towards them, throwing off the fur coat. It
landed next to Rubeus and burst in to blue flames. Rubeus jumped away.
"I'm sorry it had to be this way," she said sincerely. "But I had
no other choice."
Silence. Tux rubbed his eyes, having lost his mask in all the
excitement. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Serena sighed, and
looked down. Behind her Rubeus was slowly getting to his feet.
"Down boy!" she said throwing some kind of fire ball at him. He
slumped down again. Turning back to Tux and the others, she said, "I was
playing with Rubeus, trying to learn the secrets of the Mega Moon. Do you
think anyone in her right mind would see anything in that sleaze miester."
(is that how you spell it, it's not mister, I know that.)
'What did she say?'
'You know very well what she said, Tux old boy!' his thoughts ran
circles around him, only making him dizzier that before. Serena had never
been evil, but was only acting, pretending to be in love with Rubeus. She
was trying to learn about the Megaverse- but what if she's lying now?
What if this is the act? "How can we tell it's really you, and you're not
just playing us for saps?!? Like you say that you played with Rubeus. "
Tuxedo Mask asked.
"Darien..." she turned her attention to him. She clasped her hands
in front of her, "I don't know, you're just going to have to trust me."
Her voice was pleading. "How else are we going to fight Rubeus and the
others."
"Start by telling us who the 'others' are." Mars said steely,
keeping her distance, as did the other scouts.
"Well there's Emerald, I don't like her much, nobody does, except
Sapphire. She has the most annoying voice, even worse than mine-yes that's
possible, Raye!-and her laugh, don't make me go into that. She is so
crunching on Prince Diamond, I haven't met him, but he sounds a little off
his rocker." she paused for breath. "Sapphire is Diamond's younger
brother, I don't get what he sees in Emerald, but word is he and Prisma
used to go together. Big tension between them two, that's for sure..."
she rambled on and on gossiping about relationships gone awry. The Sailor
Scouts and Tux all exchanged glances.
Tuxedo Mask walked up to Serena, and looked deep into her eyes.
They were as clear and blue and trusting as they had been the first day
they'd met. He was about to wrap his arms around her when a thought
occurred to him.
"How... when .... where did you get all those powers?" Serena
smiled, and looked at her feet.
"They were given to me when I joined the megaverse. Because of
the silver crystal I was able to use the negative energy without becoming
evil, though it was very dangerous, I figured saving the future of this
world was worth it. That you all were worth it." she said turning to her
friends. "Using this," the staff she used against them the pervious
battles appeared in her hand, "I harnessed the energy of the dark crystal
and became this...." She gestured with the hands.
"Who is Marie Lune?" Mercury ventured, she stepped up to Serena,
but did not touch her.
"Me."
"How?" Mercury asked.
"It's a power called shape shifting, I can change my shape to so I
can look and sound like anything, anyone I want to. I'll show you." With
that she leapt into the air as she had earlier when she landed she looked
exactly like Sailor Mercury. The real Mercury nearly fell over. Serena,
as Mercury, giggled, then executed another of those impossible, turned
possible, flips, landing as Marie Lune.
Venus came and stood close to Marie Lune, looked her over and
asked: "Why? Why did you come to us as Marie Lune?"
"Because you needed it. Because I love you guys." Serena changed
back into 'herself' then threw her arms around Venus' neck in an airway
crushing hug. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Serena and the others found
themselves in tears.
"Are you coming home?" Tux broke in. 'Please, oh please, god let
her say yes.' Serena merely nodded, unable to say a word.
"Tuxedo Mask," she looked at him, her eyes sad. She walked to him,
his heart was beating a mile a minute. He went to put his arms around her,
to hold her as he's wanted to for a long, long time. She moved out of
reach, "I've had a long time to think about us. I... you were right, we
can't base the present, on the past. Our love may have bloomed once, but
as you said, it dies too."
'What is she saying?' Tux tried to grasp what Serena, the woman he
loved, was telling him.
'She dumping us,' even that annoying voice in his head was
dumbfounded. 'I can't believe she's dumping us.'
"But Serena, what about the Silver Millennium? What about...?" Tux
asked pathetically.
"Tuxedo-- Darien, now is a gift, that's why it's called the
present. You taught me that, you showed me that the past and future does
not exist. The Silver Millennium was a long time ago, and we are not the
same people we were then... You were right, I was just, oh, I don't know,
out of it or something'. I've matured allot, or at least I hope I have.
But I do hope that we can still be friends and fight side by side, like
before we knew about our past. Only you would be nicer to me."
Serena smiled at him then turned and faced the unconscious Rubeus.
She walked to his side and called his name. Rubeus began to stir. He
opened his eyes slowly, taking in the scene. Seeing Serena he attempted
to get up, with no success. Serena put her arm around his shoulders and
helped him.
"Rubeus, it's time to face those demons of yours." she told him.
They vanished into thin air.
Serena returned a few hours later to find an empty lot. The Sailor
Scouts had gone, leaving no traces, save a few burn marks here and there.
Having successfully converted Rubeus to the good side, Serena was free to
become herself again. But would the Sailor Scouts and the rest of the
people she cared for accept her again? Would they understand?
She hadn't thought Rubeus' conversion would be over so quickly,
that was why she confronted her friends that night. Rubeus was apparently
ready to give up. After all, the Four Weird Sisters had vanished (of
course Rubeus didn't know that Serena had talked them into leaving). He
had nothing left to stay for, Prince Diamond was about ready to have him
exterminated anyway. It took a couple hours convincing that life in the
present is way better than in the future. He could be a free man or a dead
man. He chose the former rather than the latter.
Serena walked slowly. She was back in the street clothes she'd
been wearing the night she officially joined the Megaverse for every one to
see. She pondered how she was going explain the extremely long absence to
her friends and family. And Serena had no idea how to "convince" them (I
prefer the term convince better than the word brainwash. Brainwash sounds
to dishonest, but as long as you get the idea)that she was never gone, or
at least that there was an acceptable alibi.
'Hey maybe Renee could help' she thought as she stopped to watch
the sunrise over the lake. 'That Luna Ball thing may have the answer!' She
wandered aimlessly for a few minutes before she realized where she was.
She found herself directly in front of the park bench where she had spent
so many happy afternoons with Darien and Scott (remember him?). She
heaved a heavy sigh and sat looking at the glittering water, recalling fond
memories of those days. How they seemed so long ago. 'Did I make a
mistake, in "joining" the megamoon?' she asked herself.
"Oh well time to face the music." she said aloud.
"Talking to yourself again?" a voice asked.
Serena turned abruptly to see Darien standing behind her.
"So any luck, uh you know, with Rubeus?" he asked taking a seat.
"Well if I hadn't I wouldn't be here would I." 'Oh god he's so
close. I can smell him. It's been such a long time. If only I could hug
him and kiss him, and be his again...' she thought, desperately trying to
restrain herself.
'Get a hold of yourself girl!' little miss practical-sensible told
her. 'You can't work together if he thinks you're still in love with him.'
Serena knew the voice was right, but still, she felt the yearning for him
she always had.
"So you're uh, coming back home I expect." he said looking out over
the water. Serena wasn't sure be she thought she herd his voice waiver.
"Yes, if you'll have me." she returned.
"We'll have you. The others, Raye and Mina and them, they love you
too much to hate you, or even be that angry at you."
'I know they will,' Serena thought, 'but will you?' She looked at
his profile and felt a pain in her chest. She tried to convince herself to
forget it, to ignore it. He didn't feel the same way anymore. The world
was in danger and she couldn't let her feelings affect their relationship,
as partners in crime (yeah I know it's corny but it works so well ^_^). It
would be painful and difficult, but it was important. "So how is
everything?" she asked trying to fill the silence.
"Define 'everything.' "
"Life, Andrew, Molly, Melvin, my family." she paused. "Do Luna
and Artimis know? about me, that is?"
"Life's all right, full of surprises, no thanks to you," he smiled.
"Well Andrew's pretty worried about you, as are Molly and Melvin." he said
taking on a serious tone. "Your family, devastated, have you noticed the
missing person posters up all over the place? I have know idea about your
new friend, what's his face -uh...."
"Scott." She knew he knew Scott's name. 'For some reason he's
trying to be nonchalant.' "Well I'm gonna make it better somehow."
"You sound very sure of yourself." Darien observed.
"Well what can I say? People love me, everybody does. It
shouldn't be too hard to make it up." she forced a grin. 'You don't love
me.' she thought. "Well I'm bushed. Saving the universe really takes a
lot out of a person." she said standing.
"No, stay-" Darien jumped up and grabbed her, but let go
immediately as he prepared for the rush of painful images that bombarded
his mind whenever her got too close, he hadn't been getting them while she
was 'evil', but to his surprise the only memories stirred in him were
happy ones of 'the good old days.' Darien blinked.
"Darien, umm, I really should go." Serena pulled farther away.
"Serena, do you know what this means?" Serena raised her eyebrows.
"Uh, Darien, do I know what what means?" she asked looking at him,
a worried expression on her face.
"I didn't feel them, everything's going to be alright!"
"Didn't feel what? Darien what's going on, what's the matter with you?"
"The images, the pain, the future, I didn't see any of them.
You're safe now!" Darien felt light headed; he was giddy. He continued
excitedly: "You're out of danger, don't you see, we can be together now."
He wrapped her in his arms, only to have her pull away, that's when reality
struck. 'She's over you, remember?' the voice in his head said. 'She
doesn't love you anymore. You pushed her too far to reach her again.'
"Darien, what happened? What's all this about?" She looked into
his deep eyes, as he stepped farther back.
"Nothing, sorry. I guess I lost it for a second." he said, giving
an uneasy laugh. He shook his head, and began to walk away.
"Darien, that wasn't nothing and I want to know about it." She
stood in his way with her hands on her hips. Darien couldn't help but
laugh at her take-charge manner. 'Did he say we could be together again?
or was it my imagination?'
'I don't know but I intend to find out!' the voice in her head
stated firmly. "Spill it, all of it."
"You wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"It's a long story, you just said you were tired, right? You
should get home."
"I'm wide awake now, you're not backing out of this one Shields!"
(that's his last name)
'She got you,' he said to himself. 'What do we do?'
'What else can we do. You gotta be a straight shooter, do ya got
it? Tell her the TRUTH!!' he convinced himself.
"Maybe you better sit down."
"Darien, you have to make up your mind. Either you want me or not,
because you can't keep doing this to me." Serena told him sternly. They
sat on the bench as the sun was coming up, Darien had just finished
explaining his actions and so forth, that had to do with the visions of
Serena's death. "What I don't get, is why you didn't tell me when all
this started, it would have made a lot of things easier, for all of us."
"I didn't' tell you, well, because.... Well, would it have made a
difference."
"What do you mean?"
"Would you have cared if you're life was in danger?"
"Well, no, but..."
"Well no, but no!" Darien heaved a sigh. "It was a hard decision
to make but I made it and there is nothing we can do about it now.
Besides, it was all for the best anyway."
"How's that?"
"You realized that... you don't..." he cleared his throat, "you
don't feel that same way you did before." he got up and strode away, not
wanting Serena to see the pain in his face. Serena sat and watched him go.
It was a few seconds before she saw what was happening.
Serena ran to catch up with him. She spun him to face her, and
planted her lips on his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held
him close. It wasn't too long before he responded. They stood in the light
of the rising sun and made up for all the hurt and pain that had been
caused.
When their lips parted, they clasped hands and walked away from the
past and into their future. Together.
THE END