Chapter 6: Abducted
The flood of grief broke her dam of resolve. As much as she tried to hold back her tears, they had intertwined themselves with the grief and helped rupture her control.
"Serena please don't listen to that jerk! You're way too good for him, you don't need people like that around you," Lita consoled with tears threatening to spill in her own eyes.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it, I tried," she sobbed.
"You don't have to be sorry about anything, Darien's just incorrigible!!" Amy outburst. She wasn't given to cursing so that was probably the most insulting thing she could've come up for now.
I can't believe this, Raye thought. She couldn't take it anymore. What nerve did Darien have to say that to Serena? She had no idea that he was this hurtful to her, that Serena was just being a baby, but now Darien waged war with all the scouts.
Before the girls could offer more condolences to Serena, they heard a shriek amongst the people downtown. The scream also produced people to panic amongst them and soon the commotion turned to pandemonium.
"What's going on?!" Mina asked. The girls set their attention to the chaos and saw that the famous fortune-teller had her hands on one of her customers.
"Let me go!!!" she screeched.
"This'll teach you not to believe!" Fortuna menaced her in a raspy voice. The girls were amazed at what they saw. From her hands they saw smoke emitting from the contacted skin. The girl screamed louder and louder until her eyes glazed over and she collapsed. Her energy was completely drained. Fortuna had a ominous grin on her face and the familiar black crescent moon appeared on her forehead.
"The Negamoon!" shouted Raye, "why didn't we see this before?!"
"Hurry, we must transform!" Amy said and rushed the girls to a more private place so they wouldn't be seen. Lita grabbed Serena and dashed with them.
"Come on Serena, the safety of these people depends on us," she goaded. Serena, unable to answer right away, just nodded.
"Moon Crystal Power!!" she shouted and let the transformation consume her. Once complete, the five girls ran towards Fortuna's stand and noticed that she had completely changed her appearance. Oh she was the Negamoon's lackey all right, but who's? Hadn't Rubeus been destroyed? They should've known better than to think that it was over.
"You'll never get away with this, not as long as we're around!" Sailor Jupiter pointed.
"Cuz we'll tear you to pieces," Mina added.
"How dare you manipulate young girls' hearts just so you could have their energy!? I am Sailor Moon! Champion of Justice! And on behalf of the moon, I will punish you!" Sailor Moon proclaimed.
"And we're the Sailor Scouts!" The girls heard obnoxious laughter that didn't belong to Fortuna and they scanned to see whom it belonged to. As they looked up, they saw a well-figured blonde woman in a dark spandex dress.
"Why how quaint," she said with a devious smile, "the entire safety police squad is here. Isn't this enchanting? Why it's a pleasure to finally meet you girls, but I'll have you know that I won't be defeated like Rubeus."
"Who are you?!" Raye shouted. The woman only laughed again in a manner that made the girls cringe.
"I'm Emerald of the Black Moon and as you know, this is my friend Fortuna. I'm sure she'll have her fun with you, now go Fortuna! Destroy them!" she demanded and then vanished. The girls focused their attention back at the demoness.
"I'll have your heads, why don't you let me give you a tarot reading," as she said this, cards formulated in her hands and she thrust them at the girls. They dove out of the way and discovered that the cards were razor-sharp.
"Hah! Like that's never been done before!" Lita jeered and performed her lightning attack. After about twenty minutes of relentless battle, the girls were exhausted. Fortuna wasn't giving up and showed no signs of it either.
"We're going to have to think of something fast if we want to beat her," Mina said, breathing heavily.
"Yeah, what we've hit her with everything we had, what else are we supposed to do?" Raye forced out. As if their prayers had been answered, a voice came from the shadows.
"It seems to me that all you creatures to is target young girls, now that's not very villainous of you if you can't take on real men," Tuxedo Mask stepped out of hiding. He hadn't been aware of what happened until he rode back downtown on his motorcycle. He should've been suspicious about this fortune-teller, he'd never even heard of her before and all of a sudden she was world-renowned. Yes, that was definitely dubious.
He whipped out one of his "famous" roses and aimed it towards her face.
"So I finally meet the boy toy of the group, I must say though, I expected you to be a bit more burly," Fortuna hissed.
Serena just couldn't stop staring. There he was standing there defending them like always. I guess he wasn't going to let their breakup get in the way of his "duties". It was going to be a tough and long partnership…
"Sapphire, have you primed the portal?" Emerald asked, "The scouts are distracted with Fortuna and Sailor Moon is standing there like a sitting duck, completely infatuated with Tuxedo Mask. Now's the perfect time to operate."
"Yes, the portal has been readied, but I need a place to open it. You grab Sailor Moon, and I'll open it right behind you so you can lean back and fall in. we won't give them any time to retrieve her. We only have one chance so do it right," he replied. He stared at Serena. How could she just stand there like that? Didn't she even realize what kind of danger she was in? Oh well, no matter, they were to bring her to Diamond before the day was over.
Serena kept on staring as Darien fought with Fortuna. He was so skilled; it was a wonder how he ended up with graceless and clumsy Serena. She had trouble running without falling. Still in awe of his show of masculinity, she wasn't aware of the person creeping up behind her…
"Ahhh!!!!" a scream rang out in the midst of the battle and Darien and the scouts looked over to see what had caused it.
"Sailor Moon!!!" Mina cried. Before the six of them was Emerald having Serena in some kind of lock hold. Serena tried desperately to break loose and in the process, Emerald jostled something loose on her body and it clanked to the ground. She paid no attention to it; it was probably some annoying ornament on the girl's uniform anyway.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Raye demanded, her temper hotter than ever.
"What does it look like? Your leader's coming with me, she's not fit to stay with you any longer. Isn't that right sweetheart?" she asked sarcastically to Sailor Moon. Come on Sapphire hurry it up already!
From the corner of her eye, Emerald saw the familiar blackness open itself up. Finally…
"Sorry to leave so soon, but she and I have other engagements to attend," Emerald cackled and with that, fell back into the portal.
"Scouts!!!!" Serena cried out before being consumed herself.
"SAILOR MOON!!" the four of them cried out in unison.
"My apologies, but I'm going to join them, we can finish our playtime later," Fortuna said before she vanished.
Darien couldn't believe what just happened. Her love was just taken from him by the Negamoon. He knew something was going to happen to her, but he thought it was a warning for him to keep away. He had no idea that…
"This is ALL you fault Darien!!" Lita shouted, "If you hadn't said what you did or broke up with her at all, she would've seen Emerald behind her. She would've had it together for the battle. I ought to kick your ass for that. When I'm through with you you're going to wish you were never born!" She tackled Darien to the ground and started pummeling him. To everyone else's surprise, he didn't fight back in the least. Finally, good sense kicked into Raye. As much as she wanted to see Darien hurting right now, this wasn't the best thing to do right now. They should start figuring out the plan to rescue Serena, not kill each other or blame senselessly. She dove in between mangy Lita and Darien and held her friend back.
"Let me at him!! You saw what he did to Serena! The bastard! He doesn't deserve to live!!" she cried.
"I know how bad we all want to hurt Darien right now, but we have to find a way to get Serena back or we might lose her forever!" Raye reasoned.
"Yeah, I guess so," she replied while wiping tears away. She didn't completely get off Darien though.
"For your sake, she better be okay and back with us in no time," Lita threatened and punched him in the chest one last time, which made him fall back completely. Amy was already scanning the area with her computer.
"Yes, the aftereffects of the portal still remain. The vibrations are being analyzed now. I'll tell you one thing, they are definitely not from earth. She took Serena somewhere all right. I don't even think she's still on the same planet," she said glumly.
"I hope she'll be okay, what if they torture her or something?" Mina asked.
"N-no, I-I don't think they'll kill her or torture her. She's got the crystal and she's the only one that knows how to control it really," Darien said. "If she buys time, we'll be able to save her."
"Why are you in involved in this conversation. You obviously don't care about her!" Mina yelled.
"I DO care! You can't tell me I don't! You have no idea why I broke up with her and it wasn't because I didn't love her. It was for her safety!!" he defended.
"She didn't take her crystal!" Raye shouted.
"What are you talking about?" Darien asked. "She had to have had it with her, how else would she have transformed?"
"It came loose when she was struggling with that woman, see it's right there on the ground," she pointed and went to pick it up.
"How did she stay transformed then?" Amy asked.
"It stayed within her personal radius, of course she isn't now, but I'm guessing it was close enough to her to stay that way," Raye explained.
"Good thing then, who knows what would've happened if the Negamoon got their hands on it," Amy said, "Oh and by the way, what did you mean by Serena's safety Darien?"
"I've been having weird dreams lately. It would always begin with Serena and I together. It was our wedding day," he wiped a tear from his cheek, "just before we say our vows, the earth crumbles and there's always a voice telling me that she and everyone would be in danger if we stay together. I couldn't risk it being just some stupid dream, not when Serena's safety is involved." After this heartfelt explanation, Darien fell to his knees and wept. His worst fear had come true, Serena was gone and who knew what kind of danger she was in. Lita was right, even as he did his best to try and protect her, he failed miserably, and this was ALL his fault…
Meanwhile in a far away place, a few hours later…
Serena groaned as she sat up in bed. She had the worst headache. Pain just weaved itself inside her head, pounding its existence in her body. She looked around fuzzily and realized she was in nothing more than a silver nightgown and in bed with silk sheets that matched. The bed itself was the epitome of luxury; she didn't even want to see the rest of the room. It must've been some kind of dream.
"What happened to me?" she managed to get out. "Was it just a dream?" No it couldn't have been. She raised her hands to her eyes and felt fresh tears still hanging off them. Her eyes must've been puffy and red. She probably looked a fright. Remembering what happened last before she lost consciousness, she sat up abruptly. She was in some strange place and kidnapped by the Negamoon. She felt her chest and found that the crystal wasn't on her. Did the Negamoon take it? No, she was sure she dropped it or something, oh she just couldn't remember right now.
"Oh, so you're awake," the voice startled Serena and she let out a loud, scared whimper as she directed her attention to where the voice was coming from. Right in front of her was indeed a very gorgeous man. His hair was white, but he was incredibly young looking, it just may be his coloring. He was somewhat pale after all, and those eyes…she didn't want even to get into those. They were so magnetizing. Save for the black moon marking on his forehead.
Stop thinking like that, you're kidnapped and he's evil, she thought, but Darien was gone and all was lost, so what was so wrong to indulge herself in this girlish fantasy. Instead of swooning though, answers were far more important to her than staring, although the alternative was particularly inviting.
"What happened to me?" she asked.
"You were unstable in battle, so Emerald retrieved you for me. You were obviously so hurt and it just broke my heart to see you like that," he put his hand over his chest and offered a look of sympathy. As charming as he seemed, Serena wasn't going to buy that.
"No I'm serious. You don't even know me, how could you know what I was going through," she countered. He chortled softly and Serena colored a bit.
"I know a lot more about you than you realize Serena," he said. Her eyes widened at the mention of her name. How did this man know her name, she guessed he was right when he said he knew a lot more about her than she thought.
"I knew your troubles with that Tuxedo Mask and I must say, it was entirely unfair what he did to you. How could a man even think about treating the woman he claimed to love like that? Why, it was absolutely callous," he said. Serena blushed again and felt the onslaught of tears threatening to break her system.
"I see you're still a little sensitive about that, well it's no matter, you're way too good for a man like that," he smiled at her. His smile was perfect. Serena wondered, was the rest of his body as perfect? It seemed that the rest of the blood in her body rushed to one spot.
Damnit Serena! I thought I told you to stop that! She thought.
"W-wh-who are you?" she asked, trying to hide her embarrassment.
"You've never heard of me?" he asked. Serena shook her head and he placed mock offense on his expression.
"I must say, I'm quite offended, a beautiful woman like you never even heard of me?" She laughed despite herself. No matter how bad her situation was at the moment, this man was an absolute charmer. He walked up to her bed and leaned forward, letting his arms support the rest of his body as he looked at her.
"I'm Prince Diamond, but what good is my name if you never heard of it. Looks like my notoriety isn't as exalted as I thought it was," he smiled another faultless grin as he gazed into Serena's eyes.
"You control the Negamoon?" she asked.
"In a word yes, but we're just like one big happy family," he replied. As he answered her, the Wiseman crept in the room without anyone's notice.
"My Prince, I believe Emerald would like to speak with you," he said. Serena didn't know why, but his presence frightened her. Diamond sighed in disappointment.
"Fine, tell her I'll see her in a moment, let me finish up my conversation here. While I'm gone, please look after her," he answered.
"Yes your highness," he said.
"Forgive me, but I must be off. As much as I hate to leave you, Wiseman will take care of all you need and I'll be with you shortly," Diamond retreated and Serena found herself not wanting him to go.
"You see Sailor Moon, why think about Tuxedo Mask when you have someone you just meet who obviously cares about you? You see… Darien never loved you. If he loved you then why would he say those things to hurt you? He didn't care about you, he only cared about Rini-"Serena stopped him mid-sentence.
"Stop it!! You're wrong!"
"Oh am I? Why was Rini always getting the love and attention that you deserve?! Didn't Darien always shower her with affection while you were there?"
"I-I d-don't know, please, you can't…" she trailed off.
"You were supposed to be the one he loved and all he did was ignore you when you needed him most! Why did you even put up with all that? Don't you know an abusive relationship when you see one?"
"No, he did care! He did!"
"If he cared then why did he break up with you for no reason and say that you meant nothing to him! Why did he say that if he cared at all for you? He didn't love you, he didn't care how bad he hurt your feelings! Didn't he always say such mean words to you when all you did was try to be nice?"
"I-I…"
"You were such a fine girlfriend and he kicked you to the curb. Such a lovely girl and you weren't getting the love you deserve. Such a shame… he never loved you at all!! You don't deserve that!!!!!!" Serena didn't even realize she was crying until tears pelted her nightgown. She was so confused, why did Darien treat her like that, like she was no good at all. All he cared about was Rini…
"You can live a better life without him. He was never there when you needed him most. You were so scared and alone, but he never even gave it a second thought? Is that love? No, he left you cold and alone, he never loved you-!!!"
"Stop!! Stop this right now!!! I don't need this!!" she sobbed frenziedly, "You're right! He never loved me!!"