Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. See chapter 1 for further disclaimer.

Time Enough
Chapter 3
by Corina "Mako" Borsuk

"How dare you impersonate Sailor Moon!" Sailor Mars shouted.

"What are you talking about? I'm not impersonating anyone. I AM Sailor Moon."

"You can't be! Sailor Moon is dead!"

"No, she's not, Raye," Tuxedo Mask said in a quiet, but steady voice. "She's alive, right here in my arms."

"No! She can't be!" Mars shouted in denial.

Sailor Jupiter placed a hand on Mars' shoulder to try to calm the shorter girl as she asked Tuxedo Mask, "Are you sure?"

"As sure as I've ever been of anything in my life," he replied, still holding Sailor Moon tightly. "This is Serena."

That was all the convincing the Soldier of Jupiter needed. She flung herself on Sailor Moon, crushing both the blond and Tuxedo Mask in a fierce hug. "Oh, Serena, we're so glad you're back."

"Back from where?" Sailor Moon asked, although she couldn't be heard over the sound of Jupiter as she shouted excitedly into her communicator for Venus and Mercury to meet them as quickly as possible.

******

Serena Tsukino sat on the floor at the Cherry Hill Temple, dressed in her Crossroads Junior High School uniform and a cup of hot chocolate in her hands. Darien, now wearing his usual green blazer instead of a tuxedo, sat next to her, his arm around her shoulders. The warmth of the hot chocolate and Darien's presence were comforting, but they didn't make it any easier for her to believe that she had been missing for over six months. It just wasn't possible. She didn't remember being missing, but Amy said it was true. Amy Mizuno, Sailor Mercury, was the smartest person Serena knew, maybe even smarter than Darien, so if she said Serena had been missing, it must be so. But still, it was difficult to believe.

"Are you really, really sure?" Serena asked her friends, the assembled Sailor Soldiers. "I mean, if I was missing for that long, where was I?"

Serena waited, expecting Raye to jump in with a comment like, if we knew where you were, you wouldn't have been missing, Meatball Brains. But, she didn't. Raye just stood there silently, staring at Serena like she had been doing since they arrived at the temple.

"We don't know, Serena," Sailor Mercury replied as she continued to scan Serena with her VR visor and micro-computer. With the exception of Mercury, the rest of the Sailor Soldiers had de-transformed into their normal, everyday selves. Usually, Serena felt calmer when they weren't transformed - safer, at least, because battles seemed further away at those times, even when they were having a Sailor meeting with Luna and Artemis, their magical cat guardians, much as they were right now.

This time it wasn't working and neither was Darien. Usually she felt safer and more confident when he was around. Not that she didn't feel totally safe with his arm around her like it was, but as nice as it felt, it was also making her nervous. Darien rarely got this close to her physically or was this obvious about his feelings in front of others. For some reason, this current demonstration was making her feel strange.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything?" Lita asked again, breaking Serena out of her thoughts.

"The last thing I remember is being knocked out by that droid that showed up after you went to meet Catzy and her sisters. At least, I think that's what happened. Then I woke up." Serena shrugged, not sure what else to say. The whole thing was just too weird.

"Are you sure it was a droid?" Mina asked, her brow furrowed together as if she were trying to answer a difficult test question. "I mean, we defeated the Black Moon family and Wiseman way before that happened."

"Well, it looked like one of the monsters they used," Serena answered, squirming a bit as Mercury continued to scan her from every possible angle.

"Maybe it was a daimon," Lita suggested as she poured herself more tea.

She turned to Serena, asking, "Do you want some more hot chocolate?"

The blond nodded and handed her now empty mug to Lita before asking, "What's a daimon?"

"They're the heart snatchers you fought tonight," Luna answered for Lita since the tallest Sailor was heading for the kitchen. Luna and Artemis had been briefed on the situation by Jupiter and Tuxedo Mask as soon as they had all arrived and finished celebrating Serena's return. Even the usually all-business lunar cat had been reluctant to end the impromptu hug-fest that had resulted. As Sailor Moon's mentor, friend, and sometimes even second mother, Luna had missed Serena dearly, but they, and she, needed to know how Serena had disappeared and why.

"Maybe Lita's right," Artemis, Luna's fellow talking cat and Mina's guardian, suggested. "It might have been a daimon sent to capture Sailor Moon so she couldn't interfere."

"That just doesn't make sense," Luna argued. "Why would they just try to capture her? The Witches Five have no qualms about killing people to get what they want."

"Witches Five? Killing people? What are you talking about, Luna?"

"The Witches Five control the daimons. They're the new enemy." Serena nodded, and Luna continued. "They send the daimons to steal the heart crystals of those with pure hearts." Noticing Serena's puzzled look, Luna decided a more in-depth explanation was in order.

"It started about two weeks after you disappeared. We were meeting here after school so we could continue our search for you." Luna paused a moment, overcome by emotion, though she hoped no one else would notice. Taking a deep breath to collect herself, she continued, "That's when a daimon attacked Raye. We didn't know what they were at the time or what they were after. The girls were no match for it. It sucked out a crystal from inside Raye -- her heart crystal. We still don't understand it completely, but apparently, they are vital for human existence. If it hadn't been for Sailors Uranus and Neptune, we might have lost Raye, but they destroyed the daimon, and we were able to return her pure heart crystal to her."

"Sailors Uranus and Neptune!?! You mean there are more Sailor Soldiers." Serena jumped up from her seat, turning this way and that, as if the two Sailors would just suddenly appear. "Where are they? When can I meet them? What are they like? Do they like video games?"

"Haruka loved the racing video games," Lita replied sadly as she returned from the kitchen with Serena's hot chocolate. "She was really good. You would have liked her."

"I know I will!" Serena enthused, not catching the somber mood that had fallen over her friends. "Call them up, quick, and ask them to come over. I know it's late, but I really wanna meet the new Soldiers."

"You can't, Serena," Amy replied, tears in her eyes.

"Why not?" Serena asked, her excitement dimming as she saw the look on Amy's face.

Serena felt Darien's hand squeeze her own gently as he said, "They're dead, Serena."

"No," she whispered in disbelief as tears filled her own eyes. Even if she never met them, Uranus and Neptune were Sailor Soldiers, just like she and her friends. If they were anything like Amy, Lita, Mina, or Raye, she just knew they would have been wonderful friends, but now she would never have a chance to know for certain. That just wasn't fair.

"Yes, they're dead," Raye said. It was the first time she had spoken since they arrived at the Cherry Hill Temple. "And, so is a little girl and Andrew's sister." Raye paused for a moment to stare hard at Serena. "And, so is Chad."

******

to be continued