"Hey Serena," Jessie exclaimed smiling. "Look at that black cat over there. It's beautiful."
"You mean Luna?" Serena asked, moving over to the tree. "She's my cat. She followed me to school. Silly kitty." she cooed into the cat's ear.
Luna jumped up like a flash, startled by her rude awakening. She turned to see Jessie for the first time.
"Jessie, meet Luna. I told her all about you last night. She acted very interested."
Jessie said nothing, simply stared at the crescent moon on the black cat's forehead. Still staring, she reached out to touch it. When her fingers came into contact with it, she gasped and drew her hand back as if it had been burned. "Luna!" she exclaimed. "How did you find me? I told you that I wanted nothing to do with this battle. Why couldn't you accept it? Queen Serenity did."
"How do you know about Queen Serenity? Serena what did you tell her?" In her surprise, Luna forgot she shouldn't be able to speak.
"Nothing Luna!" Serena protested. "I know not to tell anyone anything about that. I didn't even know you were looking for her until last night. Which was *after* we met her."
"She's telling the truth Luna." Jessie replied. "As I told you one thousand years ago, Sailor night is retired! When you finally figure out who the Moon Princess is, tell her I'm sorry, but I can't fight anymore. I've seen too much of war already. This is not my fight."
"Luna, what is she talking about? There are only five Scouts, right?"
"I don't know. There are many gaps in my memory. Every time I meet one of you, a small part returns. But I don't remember you, Jessie. I'll have to ask Central Control."
"Don't bother Luna." Artimis said, coming over to the small group. "They'll only tell us the same thing she just did. We can't force her to fight. If we did, it wouldn't be right. She has to want to fight."
"Hello Artimis." Jessie smiled. "You're right. I gave up that life a long time ago. Serena, I know who you really are. I made a mistake during the last war. I went into a battle after I stopped caring. When you don't care what happens, when you stop believing in the cause you're fighting for, then you become the very thing you're fighting against. That's why I stopped battling Queen Beryl. Queen Serenity understood this and gave me time off so I could figure out my mixed emotions. I was so close when the Moon Kingdom was destroyed. But I don't remember what I'd decided. Unless you find the Princess- and the Sliver Crystal- I may never know. Listen to me or not, it's up to you. But everything depends on your finding the Princess. The Crystal shall not work for anyone else." She stood up to leave, then paused. "Help yourselves to my lunch, I'm not hungry anymore. I'll find Lita and Ami and tell them what I've told you."
*@*@*@*@*@
"Zoisite!" Beryl's voice rang throughout the castle.
"Yes my Queen?" Zoisite asked as both she and Malachite appeared.
"Sailor Night has regained her memory! Why didn't you destroy her?"
"The city is very large, Queen Beryl." Malachite explained. "She was unable to find Sailor Night in one day."
"Do not let her survive! She must not be allowed to find the Moon Princess. Find her and destroy her, understand?"
"Yes, Queen Beryl." they answered.
*@*@*@*@*@
As Jessica Klinto lay down on bed, trying to study, she heard the laughter of the woman who had asked her for directions the day before. "This better be good, Zoisite." she said. "What do you want now?"
"So you have regained your memory. Queen Beryl was right." Malachite said as he appeared first. "How much are you able to recall?"
"Enough to remember that we were friends, Malachite. Enough to recall how frightened I was when Nephrite told me that Beryl was going to destroy the peace our two dimensions had worked so hard to achieve. I remember everything- up to and including the last time we met. There are a few images after that, but nothing firm. Beryl sent you to finish what you started, didn't she?"
"We obey orders, Jessie." Zoisite answered. "You know that. You can't be allowed to find the Moon Princess."
"You don't have to worry about that. I've already found her. Not that she even knows who she really is. Nor am I going to be the one to tell her. As I told Sailor Moon earlier today, this is not my war. The outcome means nothing to me. So destroy me or not, the choice is yours. I won't stop you." Jessie shrugged and lay back on her bed to resume her studying.
The two warriors of the Negaverse looked at one another in disbelief for a long moment, then left in order to discuss this with Queen Beryl.
"We'll be back, Jessie." Malachite's voice said.
*@*@*@*@*@
"That explains the weird vibes I got from her." Rei said after Luna and Serena had finished telling the other Scouts about Jessie's secret. "I wonder why she stopped caring."
"The only way we can find out is if we ask her." Ami said. "But what interests me more is the way she mentioned the Moon Princess. 'When you finally figure out who the Princess is...' Doesn't that make it sound like she knows who we're looking for?"
"Hey, you're right, Ames." Serena agreed. "I hadn't thought about it before, but it does sort of seem like that."
"I say we go to her place and ask her what she meant." Mina suggested. "She might not have realized the way she said it."
"Let's go." Lita said. "There's no need for us to waste time."
"Right." the others agreed as they stood up and left the Temple.
*@*@*@*@*@
When Jessie heard the doorbell ring she ignored it and let her mother answer.
"Jessie!" Laura Klinto called. "You've got company!"
"Be right down Mom." she yelled back. She ran down the flight of stairs and stopped beside her mother at the door. "Hi guys," she smiled. "Mom, this is Ami, Lita, Mina, Rei and Serena. And down there is Luna, Serena's cat. Girls, this is my mom. We'll be in my room if you need me, okay, Mom?"
"Sure. Nice meeting you girls." Mrs. Klinto said as she left the room.
The six guests walked inside and followed Jessie upstairs. "So, whatcha wanna do? We've got board games, movies, or we could just sit and gossip for a while."
"Actually," Luna said as she jumped up on the bed. "We were hoping to talk about something more important."
"The Moon Kingdom." Jessie nodded. "All right. Sit down and make yourselves comfortable. What do you want to know?"
"Who is the Moon Princess?" Ami asked. "You know, don't you?
"I'm sorry." Jessie replied sadly. "I don't know for certain, and I'm not allowed to tell you my suspicions. Queen Serenity said I could give you clues, but that's all. You know her very well. All of you do. But she's not aware of her past. She knows she's different, but she doesn't know how different. What else can I help you with?"
"Tell us about the Moon Kingdom." Lita suggested. "It might give us some ideas on how to find her."
"The Moon Kingdom was, in simplest terms, paradise. It was beautiful and peaceful. There were no wars, no illnesses, everyone was always happy. Along with Queen Serenity, the Princess was the happiest of all. The young girl was raised to follow in her mother's footsteps in ruling the Moon, but she spent every moment she could staring up at the Earth. You see, she had fallen in love with the Prince of Earth and thought of nothing else but him. Only when she was with her court- of which every Scout was a member- could she talk of anything else.
"Then, I received horrible news from a friend outside the Palace. Beryl, the newly crowned Queen of the Negaverse, was going to destroy the peace treaty that had existed between the two dimensions for nearly 22,000 years. I warned Queen Serenity, who quietly took steps to prepare for war if it should happen, but did my best to ignore the threat. I knew that if it came to war, I'd be fighting against people I'd gotten to know very well before becoming a part of Princess Serenity's court. I spent the following months with lifelong friends from the Negaverse, trying to convince them that the war would be pointless and that both sides would lose, but Beryl's hold over them was too strong. Nephrite offered me the chance to join them, but I couldn't. The last time I saw them before the war started, I said that what I wanted more than anything else was to be able to forget everything about the upcoming war. The first attack came the next week. Everything was demolished. Queen Serenity sent everyone to the future so that we could begin a new life without knowledge of the Negaverse or the Moon Kingdom. I don't know what happened after that. All I can assume is that she died before she could send herself to the future as well. I don't know."
"Whoa, back up a sec. You knew Nephrite? Did you know Jedite, Zoisite and Malachite too?"
"Well yeah." Jessie answered. "I've known them all my life. Zoisite used to baby-sit me. Why? Have they been hurt?"
"Zoisite and Malachite are fine." Luna began.
"Unfortunately." Lita muttered under her breath.
"But Jedite has simply disappeared." Luna finished. "We don't know what happened to him."
"And what about Nephrite? He-he's...dead, isn't he?"
When the others nodded, she sighed. I thought so. The next time you see Malachite and Zoisite, tell them to leave me alone, alright? As much as I enjoyed chatting with them, I'd rather not have to explain to my mom just how they got into our house without her noticing it."
"They've been to see you?" Rei asked. "What did they want?"
"They wanted to know how much I remembered. Beryl sent them to destroy me. I told them exactly what I'm telling you now: I'm retired until further notice. All I want is to be a normal teenager and hang out with my friends. This is not my battle. If they want to kill me, then fine, but it's just going to be a waste of their time." She smiled sadly, her eyes filling with tears. "It's strange, I never thought that Nephrite would ever be defeated. He always seemed to be the strongest of all Beryl's generals."
"Is that why you stopped caring?" Ami asked. "Because you didn't want to hurt your friends?"
"Partly yes." Jessie agreed. "But for some other reason I just stopped caring. It just doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm not sure why." She shrugged slightly. "They've changed so much. I wonder if they're still dating, or if they broke up."
"Did you know us a thousand years ago?" Serena asked. "What were we like?"
"Well, let's see. Rei wasn't quite so short-tempered, Lita didn't spend as much time fighting, Mina and Ami were pretty much the same, but you've changed the most, Serena. You were so much more graceful back then. You and Lita were the best ice-skaters I've ever seen. I wonder if you could even make it around the rink once now. But to be honest, I like you better this way. You were too perfect."
"Serena perfect?" Rei snorted. "That's a laugh."
"Rei be nice." Jessie whispered. "There's more to Serena than meets the eye. A lot more than you think."
"Jessie!" Mrs. Klinto called up. "Are your friends staying for dinner?"
"Uh, no thanks Mrs. Klinto." Mina yelled back. "We've got to be going."
Jessie walked her friends to the door. When they reached it, she smiled. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure." Ami answered. "Don't forget about the math test."
They left while Serena groaned at the reminder.