Finding Destiny
Part 25
By Angel Love

Author's Notes: The scouts have now entered the Negaverse. The rest of the fic is going to be a little darker and a little more intense. Of course, there will be romantic moments throughout, so don't give up on those! ^_^

Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Sailor Moon. I only own this story and the original scouts that I have written in here. If you would like to either host this story on your site or borrow Sailor Destiny or Love please ask me first.


Sailor Moon covered her nose with her hand, as she was assaulted by the stench around her. Her eyes were wide as she took in the desolate, decaying walls and the barely lit rooms. Everything had a greenish tent to it and also looked like it was going to cave in on them at any moment. Large rats ran away when they stepped out of the portal and onto the slimy, slippery floor. "Ewww..."

"I think they are in need of a new decorator," Love whispered from behind the moon princess, a shiver running up her spine.

Destiny shot her sister a look as the warp hole closed behind them, trying to figure out if the girl was making a lame attempt at humor or if she was serious.

Sailor Moon could feel her heart close painfully in on itself as she realized that her scouts had spent the entire night in this forsaken place. "Oh guys, I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I wish I could have gotten here sooner."

Tuxedo Mask gently put an arm around her, trying to offer her comfort. His mind was on his own generals. They had lived in this since they were reborn, never knowing anything else. He felt an uncontrollable anger at Queen Beryl. He wanted to make her suffer for everything that they all had been through.

A rat ran by the twins' feet and Love shuffled away from it. "Oh gross!" she exclaimed as it shoved its fat body into a small crevice in the wall. She was sorely tempted to send a blast of fire down the hallways just to get rid of the scurrying rodents.

Destiny smirked slightly at her sister's discomfort, then turned to Mercury, who was typing away on her computer. "Any luck on which way to go?"

At that moment Mercury's computer choose to beep. She looked up and smiled slightly at the group. "All three of them are alive," she paused, a frown tugging on her face. "But they have been separated."

"Are we going to have to split up to find them?" Tux asked quietly. He dreaded leaving Serena to fight this on her own. He needed to be by her side to see this to the end.

Mercury shook her head. "No, if we follow this one path, it should lead the way to all three of them." She pointed down towards the right.

"Good, I think it would be too easy for them to take us all down if we decided to separated," Destiny said quietly. The feeling of impending death was hitting her senses strongly again. If only she could figure out just whom it was pointing too, maybe she could try to prevent it. But Hades was not choosing to tell her the name of the person or people he was calling to his side.

"I agree," Sailor Moon said quietly. "Strength in numbers." She reached out for Tux's hand and led the way down the path that Mercury had pointed out. She desperately hoped that her scouts were unharmed. Her eyes were darting around watching for any sign of youmas. She found it odd that no one had come to attack them yet. Surely someone was aware of their arrival.

They had past through three empty hallways, the scenery never changing, no sounds except the scurrying of the rats, before Mercury called out, "Make a left."

Moon began to become extremely nervous. Not only did it seem like they were walking in circles because nothing ever seemed to change, but they still had not come across anyone. "Why isn't anyone around? Why aren't there any youma around?"

"We knew it was a trap when we walked through that warp hole," Destiny spoke quietly from behind. Her voice was calm and sure, but even she was beginning to become slightly nervous at the lack of enemies. "They are probably leading us somewhere where they can kill us off easily and all at once."

"That is such a comfort," Love deadpanned, shooting her sister an exasperated look. "Thank you, Destiny."

"Now who said this was going to be fun?" Tux said, turning enough to give everyone a disarming smile, halting Destiny's comeback on her lips. "Let's just watch each other's backs. If we stick together we will all make it our of this alive."

Mercury's voice cut through the tension-filled talk, both relief and confusion evident in her voice. "Mars is right here."

Everyone turned to look at her. She was staring at the wall to her right, her visor running a scan over it. Her fingers moving fast over the buttons on her small computer.

"Are you sure?" Moon said quietly. She didn't see how Mars could be behind this decaying wall when she couldn't see any signs that showed there was or ever had been a door anywhere. But then again, nothing here seemed to make sense to her.

Love held up her staff near the wall, the center heart glowed brightly, lighting up the area, showing the worms that were making their way up the slimy substance. "She's right. Mars is behind this wall." She looked at her sister, noticing that her staff wasn't showing any signs that hers was. "And there aren't any generals around guarding her."

"That's a good thing," Moon whispered. She wasn't ready to face Zoicite or Malachite yet. She briefly wondered about Nephlite and Jadeite. She was slightly worried that they would have to face them as well. They never found out what exactly happened to those two. And all she needed right now is to go up against all four generals at once, she wasn't sure that even with her reawakened memories she could beat them all.

Love placed her staff against the wall and closed her eyes briefly, calling on her powers to melt down the wall. Fire moved up the staff and soon there was a hole big enough for them all to walk through single-file. She nodded to Sailor Moon, who walked in warily holding her crescent moon wand closely, watching for any youma waiting to attack them on the other side.

Sailor Mars was bound and gagged on the floor, she had her back to them so she wasn't even aware that they were there. She was huddled in upon herself as much as she could for her hands being tied behind her back. Her long hair hiding her face from their view.

"Mars," Moon cried out, startling the scout of fire. She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her friend, holding her close to her body.

Tears of joy were falling down her face as Tux quickly untied the raven-haired girl's hands and pulled the gag from her mouth.

Serena was smoothing the other's hair, clutching onto her like a lifeline. She was slightly startled when she felt Mar's arms wrap around her, holding on to her with a vice-like grip.

"Serena," Mars whispered. Tears fell down her face as she buried her face in Moon's sailor flap. Joy was radiating in her heart. "I have never been so happy to see you."

"Shh," Moon soothed, a small smile on her face, making a mental note to remind Raye of that statement at a later date. "I would never leave you guys here with these Nega-creeps."

Mars pulled away and stared at her leader in the eyes. "They have something really bad planned. But I don't know what it is. I just know that they sealed me in here and took away Jupiter and Venus. Both laughed as they left, promising that the next time I would see them, it would be my death."

"How were the girls when you last saw them?" Concern evident in her sky-blue eyes.

"Jupiter is blaming herself for this whole thing. Not a big surprise." She shrugged her shoulders. "And Venus..." Mars looked away, "she isn't doing too good."

"Then we need to get to them quickly," a new voice came in causing the two to look up.

Not far from them was Mercury, tears pouring down her face. Next to her were two scouts that Mars had never seen before, the one with dark hair had spoken. Mars chose to ignore them for the moment and held one arm open for Mercury, who gladly ran into the embrace.

For a brief moment Mercury, Mars and Moon gave each other comfort that they all desperately needed before pulling slowly away from each other. But Moon stayed kneeling in front of Mars. She looked over to the new scouts and then to Tux and said quietly, "I need to restore her memories. It will help her in this fight."

The blonde nodded, her voice soft. "Go ahead, we can wait."

Mars looked at Sailor Moon in confusion, her eyes widening even more when she saw the blonde clasp her locket and change into Princess Serenity. "You're?"

The princess nodded and then placed her bare fingers on the stone in Mars' tiara. "In the name of the Moon, awaken and remember Princess Raye."

The tiara disappeared and the symbol of Mars shown brightly on the young soldier's forehead. Her eyes drifted closed as she responded automatically, "In the name of Mars..."

To be continued...

A quick note.... Sailor Love and Destiny were given their power by the Greek Gods. Therefore when Destiny refers to Hades, she is actually referring to the god himself.

You can learn more about that when I release the sequel/spin-off of this fic called Guardian of Love: The Origins.