Chapter 2: Reunion of memories
The next day, Saturday, everything went normal. Serena and her friends were walking to the arcade, when Mina went over to Serena, who had her head bowed, and said, "Hey, Serena? What's wrong? You haven't said anything all day." Serena looked up and said, "Oh nothing. Say, are you girls still on for the ball tonight?" They all nodded in agreement before Serena said, "Well is it OK if I come with you? I mean, I don't have a date or anything. But I can still meet people, right?" Mina and Lita both grinned mischievously before Lita said, "Oh don't worry about that. We've gonna give you a little makeover girl!" The next hour consisted of trying on dresses and trying different hairstyles. Finally they agreed on letting May do a hairstyle from a fashion magazine Mina's mom had. After they agreed on that they picked out a gorgeous White dress that clung to her perfect figure. It had spaghetti straps and came down over feet dorned by white open-toed shoes. When they got done they all went up to her room. Mina did her makeup, which was a rose pink color. She finished by putting light pink lipstick on. Amy finished off the look by curling Serena's hair and piling it high on her head, leaving a few strands to frame her face. Then the rest of them changed and they all looked at eachother in satisfaction. Raye smiled saying, "We've done a job well done girls!" Just then the doorbell rang and Mina ran to get it. Coming back up the stairs, she said, "OK girls it's here." Serena looked from Mina to the other three. "What are you talking about? What's here?" Grabbing her hands, Lita and Raye pulled her down the stairs and out the door, followed by Amy warning them not to ruin her hair. They were then met by a guy, obviously the driver, in his late thirties dressed in a suit. Behind him stood a brand-new limo. After he helped them all in, he closed the door and went around the back to get in, but it suddenly drove off. "Hey! Come back with that limo!" Back in the limo the girls all chatted about different things. Serena looked out the window. "Oh, are we almost there?" Amy came over and said, "Don't worry, there's nothing to be nervous about." Serena looked down saying to herself, 'Yes there is. What if Darien's there, what if he doesn't remember last night and thinks it's a dream.' Just then the limo stopped and a minute later the door opened. Taking the outstretched hand, Serena stepped out. "D-Darien? What are you doing here?" "Well after what happened last night, I remembered the same thing. At first, I though it was dream, but when it, it was too late, for you left. I thought I had lost forever. It felt as if that was my last time to declare my love to you." Serena reached up and touched Darien's face gently. 'Oh how I've been longing to feel his touch. Hear these words of love. Oh Darien, how I love you.' She smiled sweetly wishing this moment would never end. Moving closer into his embrace she crooned softly in his ear, "Darien, of course it wasn't a dream, it was a dream coming true in front of our eyes. That woman that took me was the time-gate keeper. She was here to protect us, not to harm us. But I still don't understand what she meant by saving my life." Just then, Luna hopped out of the limo and said quietly to Serena, "You'd better transform Serena, I've got bad vibes about this place. But not in front of Darien, that'll give your identity away." Serena smiled and said, "Oh don't worry about that, he knows already, he's the earth prince. But I'll explain later." Luna hopped back into the limo with the others. After transforming, Sailormoon heard a loud cackle followed by a satisfied sigh. "So, finally, we've found you. The chosen one! I've waited for the moment for a long, long time." Sailormoon looked across the way to find a tall woman with long red hair running towards them. Sailormoon looked dazed for a moment then said in a frightened voice, "Who are you. What do you want?" She knew feared she knew the answer to that but didn't want to know the consequences. The woman laughed louder this time and said in a low voice entwined with cruelty, "You! I want you! Yeah that's right. The one with the hair! I want you! I can use your power for my denomination." Then she quickly ran to them and grabbed Sailormoon, jumped up and flew of with Sailormoon screaming and grabbing for something to release her. "Darien! Oh please help me! I'm so scared." She whispered softly to herself that everything would be ok, that Darien will save her and she could be safe again. 'I know you can do it Darien, I believe in you.' Darien ran after them, hoping and praying that what he was about do will work. Sailormoon's cries of distress reached within him and pained his heart that she was hurting so. "Don't worry Serena, I'll help you!" Quickly he pulled out a rose and, carefully aiming, threw it at the woman. Unintentionally she dropped Sailormoon, who started falling and fast. Darien ran under her and caught the weeping girl in his waiting arms. Putting her down he gently stroke her cheek, wiping away her tears of fear away. "Serena, are you ok?" She nodded slowly not wanting to leaving his arms of protection. 'So safe and warm. Just how I had imagined.' She looked up to see if the woman had left, left them alone. But the woman stubbornly stood her ground and began charging up her long, dark staff. A memory came to her as she stood in the arms of her love and it reminded her of the last time it had happened. The moon on her forehead shined brightly and she recalled what it meant. 'This can't end this way. Never, I must protect this planet, my home.' She looked up towards the sky and could have sworn she saw her mother looking down on her. "This one's for you mother." She slowly and reluctantly stepped away from Darien and let the strength flow her. She turned towards the woman and said, "Queen Beryl, you can't do this and I won't allow it!" Beryl laughed uproariously and said, "Pity, pity. What's the matter Princess? I guess you're nothing without your despicable mother. That's ok. I don't mind." She twirled her staff and aimed it directly at Darien. Sailormoon noticed this and ran towards him. "Darien, watch out!" She jumped in front of him and pushed him down, protecting him with herself, just as the electric volts hit her. She whimpered softly before getting up and staring at the woman. "How could you do that! What did we ever do you?" Beryl laughed hysterically saying, "You are so incompetent! Don't you remember? Your mother had so much fun ruling the universe while I sat in my little hole wasting away, wasting my time! I got so sick of sitting in there and came here to the earth in search of some companionship. Finally found four people who were too oblivious to realize the consequences of their choice; Prince Darien's royal guardians Jedite, Malachite, Zoisite, and Nephrite. I brainwashed them all into believing in me. And that's when we attacked the moon. Apparently your mother didn't even realize the consequences of her actions for she trapped in that hole by myself all this time, and I'm not going to just stand back and let her do that!" Beryl opened a dark portal, which blew Sailormoon back against the limo. The other girls, already transformed, stepped forward and said in unison, "How dare you harm our friends! You should really be ashamed of yourself!" Venus stepped forward and put her hand on Sailormoon shoulder before looking up at the Beryl and saying, "Queen Serenity never did anything to you! I'm sure she had a perfectly good reason to do what she did." The rest of the scouts stood next to Venus and they all said, "And the name of the moon, we'll punish you!" Sailormoon looked weakly at her friends and said, "Thanks girls, but I must do this myself." She got up slowly and said, "Ok lady, I don't know what you want with us, but whatever it is, you can't have, and you're making us late! So in the name of mother, and the moon, I shall punish you!" but it was too late, for Beryl got three more shots at her. Getting up Sailormoon said, "Ok, enough playing around! Moon tiara magic!" Soon her tiara cut through the air between the two but Beryl dodged it. "Moon scepter elimination!" But she dodged that one too. The scouts threw everything they had at her, but she dodged them all. Sailormoon turned to the scouts and said, "Girls, there's no other choice, I must use the crystal." They all gasped before Amy said, "Sailormoon, you can't do that! You're too weak to use it." Sailormoon turned toward Beryl and smiled before saying over her shoulder, "Together we can do it." She slowly put both hands to her chest and brought the crystal forward. The light shone brightly against the dark portal Beryl had opened. With all her might she used the crystal's power to defeat the evil queen. Before she was defeated, Beryl threw her staff into a nearby pond, the scouts unknowingly ignoring it. Once Beryl disappeared, Sailormoon aimed her power towards the dark portal. "We are planet power!" "Venus planet power!" "Mercury planet power!" "Mars planet power!" "Jupiter planet power!" After she gained their power, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to see Darien had come over to help her. Looking back at the crystal she said, "Moon crystal power!" Soon the d ark portal closed and Sailormoon wearily brought the crystal back to its place. Turning to her friends she said, "You guys remember too?" They all smiled before saying, "Yep!" Amy stepped forward and said, "It came to us when you and Darien were standing together. It looked vaguely familiar to us. But we didn't know why until your crescent moon started shining and suddenly our memories came flooding back to us." Serena started to walk back to her friends but a pain jolted through her leg making her drop to ground. Darien ran to her and said, "Oh, Serena, you've been hurt. I'll take you back to my apartment and fix your leg up." Serena looked up into his eyes and said, "No, really, I'll be fine. And besides I don't want to be a burden to you or anything." Darien put his arm around her waist and the other under her legs and carefully lifted her up into his arms. He smiled down at her and said, "Don't worry, no trouble. I'd love to be your little caretaker for awhile. And we can just call your parents and tell them you're staying at a friend's house." Serena allowed Darien to hold her close to his chest and she could smell his sweet smelling cologne. She raised her arms and put them around his neck. You're not going to carry my all the way back to your apartment are you? I mean with this dress on and everything, I might be hard…" Serena then threw her hands up to her mouth, "Oh no! We forgot about the ball!" Darien shook his head humorously and said, "That's ok, we can have our own little ball at my apartment." Serena smiled and said, "Would you teach me?" Darien was acutely aware of the sweet fragrance of Serena's freshly cleaned hair, and the sweet perfumes of her skin. 'I have always dreamed of holding her this close. Oh my poor Serena.' He smiled his famous smile saying, "I just might do that. It'll be fun." With thoughts racing through her mind, Serena reached up and pulled his head down to kiss him, when Raye said, "Would you two please just get yourselves you own room before you make us all sick." Serena's eyes flew open and her hands dropped to her side. Darien looked at Raye and said, "Sounds like a good idea to me. My bed has been a bit cold lately." The four girls smirked while Serena blushed a bit then looked up at Darien. "You're so sweet Darien." Looking down at Serena he said, "So, are you ready to get that leg of yours fixed?" The girls all burst out laughing and said, "Yeah, your leg Serena, ready to get it fixed?" Serena rolled her eyes before nodding at Darien and laying her head on his chest and falling asleep.