Not wanting to waste time, I actually wave over a taxi instead of walking

Not wanting to waste time, I actually wave over a taxi instead of walking. Serena and the scouts need to know about Ann and Alan now. The cab happens to go through their neighborhood on the way. Looking out the window, my heart skips a beat. It's not every day that I see a tree actively growing out of building. I tell the taxi driver to stop and just throw some money to him. I start off running, never taking my eyes off the tree.

People are being cleared from the area by the police. Immense chunks of stone and steel are falling as the tree extends its roots. I dodge them all and shake off the police; I can feel the energy around the building moving in odd waves and know that this is the final battle. I see the Sailor Senshi arrive ahead of me. They manage to make it into the building, but the roots cover that entrance quickly, almost as if it's trying to trap them inside. It reforms to become impenetrable from the ground level. The tree, now having consumed the entire building, ceases to expand, although a root thrashes about occasionally. The distance to that building seems to take an eternity to cover.

A scream fills the air. Serena. Please don't let me be too late, please. I reach the building only to find that even after close inspection, there is no way in. Then again, I don't really need stairs anyway. For once abandoning all thoughts of caution and not caring who sees me, I jump into the air and just keep going up.

Branches cover every window; leaves block every balcony. It seems to have become an organic fortress. I wonder about the people who were on the top floors. Did they have time to escape this aberration? This must have been the thing which Ann and Alan guarded so carefully in that room. Please, I ask again, let me help this once. I have asked this before. There seems some malicious consciousness working against me. In the past, when the Senshi fought my mortal, or I should say immortal, enemy Queen Beryl, I would have intervened to avenge my home, my family, and most of all, my love, Jereid. Something or someone, perhaps, always prevented this. Caught on the outside, desperation mingling with the frustration of a thousand lonely years and a hundred bitter thoughts, I vow that this time I will not give in or give up. This renewal of determination causes the adrenaline to pour through my veins. I can feel the energy gathering around me. A tree, do they think a tree can stop me! I throw a ball of energy into it. The light spreads through the tree and makes it stronger. Fine, then it'll just have to be the direct way. I backup and slam myself full force into a crack between the branches – and become trapped there. Writhing about frantically and losing my focus to my frenzied plight, I feel the branches begin to crush me.

Sound from the altercation above reaches me. I fight against my organic adversary to no avail. Thinking that my movements are only making the situation worse, I am still. It is a grave mistake. The instant I cease to assail it, the branch tightens such that I hear my ribs crack. Even so, I continue to resist. Bringing my legs up to pry the branch away. I am certain I'll never view Arbor Day the same way again. This new offensive gains me enough slack to push myself into the building – and out into thin air. Falling, I fleetingly wonder what happened to floors eight through five when I smack down on four. I do have the presence of mind to slow my descent somewhat, not that I am very grateful for it. My chest feel's as though Dante's Inferno has opened up a chain store there. I take a moment to regroup. I still have the Book; I would just as soon have died as lost it. Flipping through it hastily, I find a spell to lessen the pain and maybe even mend myself a little. It takes a moment of complete concentration, a moment I shouldn't spare, but can't bear to not do so. With careful palpation, I touch my chest and focus on the words. The tree anticipates this small break in my defense. It strikes out against me again. Caught off guard and injured, I can do nothing to avert another plunge past broken floors and the equally broken dreams they represent. These were people's home, the center and security upon which they established a life. The adrenaline begins to wane, and I hear that great voice that breaths uncertainty, called truth. What if they never needed you anyway and now you… I don't finish the thought. The ground floor seems to rush up to meet me. We connect with brutal force and the sound of more flesh tearing. I lay there and cough a few times, feeling the warm nectar that gives life leave me. Ambrosia, elixir of the gods, do you leave me now? I ask myself, more than a little delirious. Though I struggle to hold on, I can feel myself slipping into nothingness like the last star holding out against the daybreak. If only I'd told them…

Not so far away, Serena faced a formidable task. She would never take the life of anything that she viewed as having some hope of redemption. Though Ann had endeavored to steal Darien away from her, though she had belligerently rejected every friendly advance, though she even now wanted Serena dead, Serena still felt that something could be done. She just had no idea what. Luna was already injured and lay unmoving with Artemis watching over her. Serena made herself believe that Luna would be fine so long as she won this battle. Having her friends there during battles both strengthened and weakened her. It gave her strength in that she was longer alone. Being of a generally genial nature and more given to being in the company of others than alone, she needed their support. However, for her great and loving spirit, it would, as it had in the past, all but destroy her if they were killed.

The Doom Tree held Darien, as Darien, not Tuxedo Mask. It was like a cat toying with a mouse, bringing her, as she was also captive, closer to him only to pull him away from her again. Just as she was to touch his hand, Alan intervened.

"I won't let you touch my Serena!"

Darien was taken farther away and Serena felt as though she were being torn. Emotional wounds are a funny thing; they can cut deeper than any sword without ever piercing the flesh, but leave a scar just as visible. Darien's eyes reflected this pain. He began to recall small fragments of memories. Slowly his love for Serena, and all that they had already gone through, came to him and he struggled to touch her, if only for an instant. Ann, already grieved by Darien's rejection, and now even more so by Alan's, called forth her power in anger. The Tree felt this and cried out, stealing Darien and Serena's energy. Then it recoiled away from them and they fell, unconscious. Ann and Alan moved to catch their respective loves, not seeing that they loved in vain.

The four senshi appeared, their presence giving strength to Serena. As Alan and Ann turned their attention to a more pressing threat than their love lives, Serena collected her feet from under her and felt power returning to her. Serena transformed into Sailor Moon, much to the horror of Alan. She said a few words, but moved quickly to the aid of her beloved. Darien still lay unconscious.

Ann and Alan argued bitterly. Darien opened his eyes and took in the sight of the odango haired girl before him. Just seeing her gave him renewed energy.

"Sailor Moon?"

Sailor Moon answered with affection sounding clearly in her voice, "No. I'm just a girl who loves you…" Tenderly, they reached for each other's hand in holy palmer's kiss.

This was too much for Ann and Alan. In their torment, they attacked first the devoted dyad and then the Senshi who ran forward to protect their liege and friend. They were overpowered by another blast from the aliens. Serena, seeing her friends defeated, struggled again to her feet, though not with the alacrity of before. She moved in front of Darien and stood unmoving, and unyielding, before them.

"Stop it!" She cried. Seeking to breakthrough to them as much as to protect Darien, "Ann was trying very hard when we were doing the play... Alan also greeted me very warmly… Darian and I both like that part of you… Because we are friends, we came to see how you were doing."
Alan, being the more reasonable of the two thought to himself, So that feeling that I had was friendship? Ann had always been more prone giving way to her emotions. She was consumed by the knowledge that Darien had, and would, never love her. Caught in this torment, she answered quickly in her aversion to Serena, "You took Darien from me!" Disconsolate and dejected, she readied herself for another great attack with which to kill Serena.

Sailor Moon was ready to answer this. For all her clumsiness, her crying, and her irresponsibility, she was at her essence a knowing and benevolent person. She still stood defiantly and retorted with compassion, "A person that you love isn't something that you take." This was more than Ann could bear; she released her pain into a blast. Darien moved with surprising agility considering the state he was in, but was powered by the exigency of protecting Serena's life. Ann felt the tear in her soul and increased her power. Everyone ceased to exist to her, what she fought was not the opponent before her. Ann wanted the pain of never being able to trust even her closest companion, of living life only from moment to moment because the future was so ambiguous, of never having a home and being one of the last of a dying race in a strange and forsaken land, to just leave her in peace, so she pressed her attack imagining this was the enemy she would eradicate.

Alan watched in awe of Darien's devotion. Sailor Moon begged him to move, to believe she would be the better one to handle such an attack, but really only wanting to preserve his life. Then, at once, Alan understood. He recognized love as he never had before. In that moment, he could have explained the concept to a dead man and the man would have been moved just by the description. Looking up to Ann, Alan finally realized that he had only been attracted to Serena for her beauty and the way she could light up a room with her smile. He had really always loved Ann, and, subconsciously, had only gone after Serena to make Ann jealous enough to return his love. Now if only he could make her see in time…

"Ann, love isn't something you try to take. It is a consideration for others in your heart," Ann said pleadingly. The Senshi joined him in his appeal, which just enraged Ann all the more. The Moonlight Knight even appeared to aid them in their plea. Ann was completely blinded by her anger and suffering, she tried to destroy the knight. This was the last straw for the monstrous Tree. It knocked the Senshi away like flies before turning on the two aliens. Alan jumped in front of Ann to save her from the now savage Tree. At that moment, as the tree struck him and sent him flying to the ground, Ann at last understood what he had been so urgently trying to convince her of. Time stood still. She saw his love for her just as clearly as she saw the branch that came to finish Alan while he was unable to defend himself. Her pain left her. She could think clearly for the first time in her life, so far as her memory reached at least. Nothing mattered more than Alan and nothing could have been more precious than his life. So she felt no regret as she moved in front of him and was impaled by a branch meant to kill him. Sailor Moon watched in horror as the branch withdrew. Alan caught Ann and held her gently. The Tree seemed to cry out his anguish so that they were surrounded by the sorrow of his loss. He begged her to hold on for a little longer while she confessed her love to him and quickly passed away.

A benevolent voice, marked by the same grief that Alan now felt, spoke, ""I was caught in anger and I hurt my own child. I am the Doom Tree. I was finally able to awaken from the long sleep. I was born on a beautiful planet that was totally covered with water. But I was the only one on that planet. I was alone for a long time, but one day another life form appeared from my pods. I loved them, and they loved me. I found out that something with a heart could not be alone."

"But then they began to fight over my energy. There weren't any left that had the same feelings as me. Then they forgot about love and were controlled by hatred. Eventually they fought a war and destroyed their own planet. I escaped into space with the remaining ones. But they never stopped fighting. Since I wasn't loved, I became weaker and weaker. So I decided to put my hopes on the two that were born after I went out into space. They were Alan and Ann. In order for me to give you energy, I had to keep my activity to a minimum so I put myself into sleep. I prayed that you two would grow up to have consideration for others."

"Sailor Moon, when you came into the room I felt a strong love and started to awaken. But Alan and Ann didn't have the consideration. They only thought about stealing. I was caught in anger and I attacked you. I even killed my own child. Please understand. What I need is not energy. It is love."

This simple statement hit Alan harder than any weapon ever could. All that he and Ann had ever tried to do had been for naught. The days that they were weak and near to dying could have been so easily averted if only someone had been there to teach them love before. It was so simply. It was so obvious now, only maybe love was not such an easy a thing; looking down at Ann's inert body he thought that love was cruel to show itself and then leave so soon. "So that's it. The one that protected us when we were little, it was your branches, your leaves. I'm sorry Doom Tree, our mother." His head bent over Ann's and his silent tears fell on her sepulchral form.

The Doom Tree said, "Sailor Moon, my body is now beginning to decay because of this anger. Please use your power of love to purify me." After seeing these poor souls' world fall apart, Serena could refuse them nothing. Though her own energy was diminishing, she called upon her power to free the tree of every vice.

The Doom Tree said, "With the last of my remaining energy, I will heal those who were killed for me, my child Ann." This said, the tree disappeared and Serena was gripped with fear, thinking that she had killed the benevolent entity. The Moonlight Knight quieted her fears. Serena turned to him questioningly, wanting to know for once and for all whom this mysterious man was. Darien was still prostrate on the floor. She remembered the day she had been shaken to the core to see that Darien and the Moonlight Knight were in the same room, at the same time. Up until that point Serena had liked to imagine that Darien's love for her transcended his apparent amnesia and that when she needed him, he was always there for her. As if he were reading her thoughts, the Knight stepped forward and pulled the cloth that covered his face away. Serena couldn't breathe for a moment. It was Darien! She looked with disbelief from Darien to the Knight and back again. She only managed to stutter out one word, "How!?"

"The Imperium Silver Crystal tried to seal the memory of Prince Darien when he was regenerated," the Knight explained, "But his desire to protect you was too strong. So the Imperium Silver Crystal separated those feelings from Prince Darien and created the Moonlight Knight. I existed only for one very important girl, you, Serena. But Prince Darien has awakened. So I should go back into him. Adieu." He rejoined Darien's body. Darien began to stir immediately and Serena ran to him.

Looking deeply into her eyes, he said, "I'm sorry I made you wait. Serena … meatball head." Serena's joy spilled over to the point where she could have burst from the feeling. Darien remembered and he loved her again. For one moment at least, the world could have ended for all she cared because her world was right before her. They embraced, but the moment was ruined by a few strangled giggles coming from the peanut gallery.

"So are you two an item now?" Mina asked mock innocently. They didn't have time to answer, though. Ann and Alan, temporarily forgotten in the revelry of triumph, were suddenly both standing up. A small seedling hung in the air, glowing faintly.

"Let's raise this on a new planet," Ann said to Alan, who had his arm around her protectively, "Yes, with the energy of our love..." They turned to Sailor Moon and thanked her profusely before floating off into space through the gaping hole that might once have been called a ceiling, but, along with the walls, now resembled a Swiss cheese arena.

The Senshi checked on the cats. Mercury bandaged Luna. Looking around, they wondered what they could do about this mess. As usual, collateral damage would not ultimately be their concern. Saving the world would have to be repayment enough for the damage done.

Even so, the company left the place hastily to look for a way down. Insurance investigators were an equal match to any evil villain. There was no way to jump to a nearby building, and jumping down from there wasn't really a reasonable option either. That left slowly and cautiously, making their way down to the ground floor by whatever means possible. This turned out to be a perilous venture and by the time they reached the ground floor, they had twice as many cuts and bruises. Still, victory made their mood a congenial one and they weren't disheartened in the least. Serena and Darien were especially happy and had a lot to catch up on. They were so busy celebrating and recounting the play by play that they almost missed the figuring lying askew on the floor. The body was clearly femine, with long red hair covering her like a protective moss, or strange mass of cobwebs, it was difficult to decide which one. The frame was slight and she was covered in dust and bruises, and blood, such that it was difficult to recognize her. But Serena did know her and for the umpteenth time that day, she felt her heart stop and catch in her throat. The others turned to see what was keeping Serena and saw what she was looking at. None of them could identify the girl, though she was familiar. Ami hastened to examine the body. She frowned in concern and concentration.

"She's alive, but not by much. From the damage my scan picked up, she should be long since dead," Ami said, shaking her head at this enigma, "We need to get her to a hospital now."

They detransformed. Serena, Ami, and Darien all stayed with the girl while the others walked outside and pretended they had been innocent bystanders caught in the decrepit building. That wasn't hard to believe; they looked like they'd been through a war zone and back. Medics came in and took the girl immediately to a hospital. Serena insisted adamantly on going in the ambulance with them while Darien squished the others into his car. Their joyful mood fell into pensiveness as each tried to recall just who this girl was and why, when the rest of the apartment had been so obviously evacuated, she alone remained.


Only one more chapter left in the Doom Tree episodes of "Heart of Ambrosia." While she survive? Maybe…If I'm in a good mood that day : P