The Will of the Ring

Chapter Four

by Makura Koneko

Big Thanks To:

Sirithdiliel

saturnpyroprincess

Comechatcha

cecilia

Nicole

Butterfly

SS Silver AKA Silver Shadows

Shannan

Goddess-of-Light

Lady Adako & LadyWatery

Liquid Ice

Phoenix Wing Star

DemonicCatGirl

Lacrea

Diodesa-Xiao-Lang-Sakura-Haruka-Yue

star0704

Rizzy (Whadya mean by 'If I really care?' Why would I ask if I didn't?)

Katrin

Angellus Lee

Felicia Angel

umi

Fate's Child

Bunni V

The Kuro no Tenshi

Seregon

DT-chan

Pyra

MoonGrlonearth

ChibiTenshi

Neko Megami

Orochi Shinji

NOTE:

First off, I wanna super thank everyone who has provided tidbits regarding what happens in the Two Towers, and with Seiya's last name.

Second, it has come to my attention (not through reviews, but by going to a site that has a list of things a lot of people hate in SM fanfics) that a lot of people don't like it when an author uses both the anime and manga names, like I have for the inners and the outers. I thought I'd mention that this wasn't done because I'm too lazy to remember them all, I just picked the name I liked best for that character, and I happen to prefer 'Ami' over 'Amy,' -and yes, there is a pronunciation difference (Amy = 'Aim-ee' / Ami = 'Aim-eye,' or something like that).

If this truly bugs you, I am truly sorry, but its one of my pet peeves to chance a characters name halfway through the story. Yes, I could go back and replace all 'Haruka' with 'Amara' and such and then repost the chapters, but, as I've said before, I'm in the process of moving, and I have precious enough time on the computer nowadays as it is, let alone the internet.

If it really annoys you, you can review/e-mail me and tell me so (politely, please. See 'SS Silver AKA Silver Shadows's review.) and I will make an attempt to make sure all names in my future fanfics line up accordingly. Ja! And thanks for not flaming me!

-Makura

And now…

Let the Myth Become Reality…

Serena felt warm…so very warm…but not uncomfortably so. Why was she so snugly warm?

She blinked and opened her eyes, then , with a gasp, shrieked. She leaped up, tripped over her own feet, and fell down again. Someone caught her. Boromir, she realized faintly, but she was too busy trying not to scream out of startled fright to really register it.

"Wh-what's going on???" Serena wailed, tears streaming down her face, eyes wide.

"Calm down and perhaps we will find out!" Gimli snapped. Serena looked at him, then, after taking a big breath and forcing herself to both breath and calm down, she sniffled and, pouting, stuck her tongue out at him before bit her lip against more wails. Boromir glared at Gimli a moment before pulling away from the girl slightly and examining her to make sure she was unhurt.

"I'm fine," She said, looking at herself. "Just reeeeally freaked out…" The glow faded, and with it, so did her clothes. But as the uniform faded, something else seemed to materialize in its place. When the glow had faded to a soft aura, Serena looked down at herself with a scowl as she picked at the milky moon-colored frothy fabric of the silky gown. The empire waist bodice was a breathtaking display of a masterpiece of gold embroidery. Golden beads, pearls, thread, links, loops and curls, all in the same silver/gold/silver as her hair was wrapped around her bosom, the multitude of cascading folds of milky, frothy moonstone colored silk cascaded down to tumble and froth all around her.

"I don't believe it…" Serena whispered.

"When you've seen all we've seen, there is very little that does not surprise us, lass," Gimli told her. "And if you plan on staying with us, I have a feeling it will become the same with you."

Serena looked at him and blanched.

"Why am I…less than comforted by that?" She squeaked. Legolas and Boromir laughed at Gimli's less than flattered expression.

Serena touched her gauzy skirt…each layer of the skirt was transparent and shone like stardust; there had to be several dozen layers of the frothy fabric to make the gown so fully and flowing and opaque.

Serena gasped as yet another spectacle appeared…

Tiny droplets of light materialized just above her head, and floated down to arrange themselves around her neck in the shape of a chain and small pendant. When it solidified, it was seen that the pendant was a smaller version of the brooch that had been on her chest when she'd been in the silver-white fuku.

The locket floated out before her, and, with an abrupt burst of magic, a beam of light soared up into the sky, diagonally, through a gap in the treetop canopy, they glimpsed another beam in the distance, rising to the sky to meet Serena's. They clashed, exploded, and melded together, exchanging twin bursts of energy. The pulse of energy from the other beam raced down Serena's, and, with a silent blast, engulfed the locket.

A ring…a transparent, hologram-type image of a ring that shone with an unnaturally flawless sheen materialized above Serena's locket. It rotated slowly, and as it did so, a flowing script began to appear in letters of flame red.

Serena gasped.

She recognized that writing! She recognized it from one of the dreams she'd had, one of the dreams where she remembered having a lesson as Princess Serenity…it was a lesson learning about languages that were remarkably similar to their native tongue, Silvan.

"The language of Mordor…" Serena whispered. Ignoring the shocked expressions on her companions, and Legolas's move to keep Gimli from saying something, she began to read.

"Ash nazg durbatuluk,
ash nazg gimbatul,
ash nazg thrakatuluk
.-"

(AN: BIG thanks to Teich7719 for providing me with the correct way to write the script on the ring in english!Makura)

"Be silent!" Legolas told her. "Do not utter that language here. Not so close to its home!" Serena blinked, then blushed.

"Oh." She said. "Sorry." She looked at it again, and read it to herself…how odd it sounded…

"The One Ring…" She murmured. As if her speaking its name triggered something, the transparent image of the One Ring began to descend. The locket, below it, opened, and that same lovely, frightening haunting song began to sing… Something was to happen… Serena's full attention became bent on the Ring merging with the Locket…there was something…something important she had to know…she just had to… It would show her, the Ring, against it's master's will, it would show her, but it couldn't…the bit of love that only she could detect, deep inside the Evil of the One Ring, could only be called out to tell her its secret with the help of her Locket…

"You'd better wake her up," Aragorn said, motioning to where Serena was sleeping as he pulled the remains of last night's dinner down from where it had been suspended in a tree to keep it out of the reach of midnight scavengers.

Legolas, the closest to her, reached over and shook her shoulder gently. Sometime during the night, the short skirt and bodice outfit had disappeared, leaving her in dark gold leggings and milky white, full sleeved blouse. There was a 'v' slit in the middle of the swooped neckline, and it was loosely laced up with thin cords that matched the color of her leggings. Her hair was still in its long braid, but it now somehow looked neater, cleaner.

She gave no sign of waking. Legolas frowned ever so slightly and shook her shoulder again…she moaned… And lashed out…

"Hey, now!" Legolas yelled, jerking back smoothly with flawless reflexes to avoid being smacked across the nose.

"What's this, our slumbering princess has an aggressive side?" Gimli said, clearly very amused at the elf prince's difficulty at waking a young human maiden. Legolas threw him a glance, his frown only in his eyes, then bent over to whisper in the girl's ear…

"Really? Where where?" Before any of them could blink, she was sitting up straight as rod, looking around expectantly. Legolas laughed. How amusing she was! A drop of sunshine and moonbeams in the middle of the turmoil that was their reality. He smiled and pulled a plate of rabbit meat and bread that he had saved her for breakfast.

"Yay!" She said, and devoured her breakfast in four large bites, hardly bothering to chew.

"Hey, that was yummy…" Serena said.

"I'm surprised she was even able to taste it before she inhaled it!" Gimli mumbled under his breath.

"What was it? Some sort of chicken?" She asked, but turned to once again examining her new attire before she received an answer. She sighed. "I really wish my clothes would decide what they wanted to be, already…this is getting annoying…an instant wardrobe is cool, but not if I don't get to pick the clothes."

"I wouldn't know," Boromir laughed as he passed her, ruffling her hair as he did so.

"Hey!" She protested. Legolas grinned slightly. Were anyone to walk in on them, they would think them on a fun camping trip, a vacation for a group of friends to get away. Legolas's smile dimmed.

"Why so glum elf?" Gimli said, coming up behind him. Legolas glanced to where Serena was trying to figure out how to roll up the bedroll so it, and the pack of leftover food Aragorn handed her, would fit into the small backpack. Legolas drew Gimli aside a bit.

"I am worried for her," The elf confessed. "The image of the pixie called her 'princess.' So I think it's safe to say that she has most likely never lifted a swore before in her life. She seems the stable sort, able to be sensible when the time calls for it, but… I say again, I am worried for her."

"As we all are, lad, but I think you most of all, elfs being relatives of Lunarians –as I believe there is no doubt that she somehow is- should know that she is capable of taking care of herself." They both looked over at the golden haired girl just as she was struggling to link the clasps of the backpack. She, her tongue peeking out from the corner of her pert lips, her face fixed in determination, gave a screech as her hand slipped, the clasp snapped, and the contents of the pack went flying as she tripped over her own feet and fell backwards on her behind.

"Well…" Gimli muttered. "She did bring Boromir back to life. If nothing else I believe she should be able to defend herself with that sorcery of hers."

"Nevertheless, Legolas is right," Boromir said, having read their lips from his place across the clearing, an ability he'd developed as a boy. He had made sure Serena was all right, before joining them. "Someone should be with her at all times, and next time we stop, someone should teach her to use at least a short sword."

"But we have no weapons to spare," Legolas pointed out.

"She is a sorceress," Gimli grumped. "I'm sure she can conjure up something for herself."

"Aie!" Came an exclamation of triumph. Serena bounded to her feet, leaned over and grabbed the strap of her pack, and slung it over her shoulder, a large grin on her face-

The other clasp snapped, one of the seams of the pack ripped, and the contents went tumbling once more. Serena's face fell as she looked at the torn remains of the pack and the scattered items. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she sniffed.

"There, there, lass," Gimli told her. "At least you found a way to fix the broken clasp."

"It's a knot Darien showed me," She sniffed. Sorrow passed over her eyes once more, and the tears came faster and in higher numbers.

"This Darien, you've mentioned him often. Is he your betrothed?" Aragorn inquired as he and Gimli knelt to pick up the scattered objects. Legolas pulled a kit of needles and threads out of one of the packs, and handed it to Serena, who looked at the items blankly before addressing Aragorn's question with a forced blank look on her face.

"N-no," She said softly as she blinked away tears. She held her left hand to her chest. "We were engaged, but…he…he- AIEE!!!" She screeched like a banshee, dropping the needle and thread to examine her hand.

"It's gone!" She cried.

"What is?" Legolas asked the question that was on all their minds as he picked up the needle and thread.

"My ring! My engagement ring that Darien gave me!" She began to panic. "We have to go back!" She cried. "We have to find it!"

"We cannot go back," Aragorn told her with a voice that was not to be questioned. Serena ignored the tone.

"Why not?!" She cried. "That ring is important to me!"

"More important than two lives?" Legolas asked her. Serena blinked, startled.

"Wh-what?" She said, her tears halting. The elf, dwarf, and two humans exchanged glances.

Boromir glanced up at the sun through the trees. "We'll explain it," He told her. "But we should get a move on, and we'll tell you on the way." He looked to Aragorn, who nodded. Within moments, the rip in the pack was stitched and packed, once Serena had used the knot to tie the pack closed after Boromir had showed her how to roll the bedroll and tie up the food wrap so that it all fit just fine, without stretching the seams. Serena, surprising even herself, firmly made herself commit every twist and fold to memory.

Serena –more carefully this time- slung the pack over her shoulder without being asked or told to, and she turned to Aragorn with a bright smile on her face.

"Lead the way!" She chirped cheerfully. She hoped around to face Boromir and stuck a finger at his chest. "And you, mister, get to the story telling!" Without missing a beat, she hoped around again and gave Legolas a push on the back. "C'mon, c'mon, lets go, lets go, we're burning daylight! I don't know who these two people are that you claim to be in such a hurry to rescue, but they certainly aren't getting any farther from their doom with us standing around! Come on already!"

"As her highness wishes!" Gimli laughed. "Onward, to hunt some Orc and rescue the halflings!"

"Yeah, what he said!" Serena grinned, and bounded off into the general direction they were all facing, followed closing by Gimli.

"Whatever happened to, 'lead the way?'" Legolas raised an eyebrow at Aragorn, whom only shook his head in amusement as Boromir, laughing full out without restraint, followed after the golden haired daughter of a pixie.

"Oh…" Was all Serena could utter. The story she'd just heard…why did it sound so familiar? Her water canteen in hand, halfway to her mouth, stopped its ascent as a memory bombarded her…

"So now you understand our haste," Boromir told her. She nodded, her face slightly pale, a shocked, thoughtful expression on her face. From the way she wore that particular expression, Legolas, watching out of the corner of his eye, thought it was probably a look she did not display often.

"What's the matter, butterfly?" Gimli asked. "Frightened? Don't worry. Dwarves are known for their protectiveness, and you have my word that you could not be in more protective company."

"For once, the dwarf does not exaggerate, lady," Legolas told her with a smile as he helped her down from the boulder that they were all in the process of climbing over.

"I'm sure he doesn't," Serena said, in slightly distracted voice.

"What is it that troubles you?" Boromir asked as he jumped down from the top of the boulder.

"Show off." Gimli grumbled as he marched passed, referring to Boromir's flawless jump. Serena giggled, but a look from Boromir told her she wouldn't distract him from his question that easily.

"I…" Serena bit her lip and stopped, and leaned against the boulder. The rest of the half-fellowship stopped and looked at her, surrounding her in a loose, protective rather than cornering, half circle.

"It's just…" Serena fidgeted. "I think, judging from your story, I think I might know…where I am, and…and maybe even why I'm here…"

"Which brings us to the many things we've been meaning to ask you since you found us." Boromir said.

"We should talk while we continue our journey." Gimli said, pointing to the fading Orc tracks.

"That we should." Aragorn agreed, pushing away from the tree he was leaning against. He held out a hand to Serena, who took it and used it to pull herself away from the boulder. Without meaning to, all four warriors formed a sort of guard all around her; Aragorn in front, Gimli to the back, Legolas to her right and Boromir on her left.

"Hey!" Serena suddenly exclaimed as Boromir opened his mouth to ask his first question. He closed it with a wry grin. "What?" He asked. Serena grinned brightly.

"Time for a road game!" She said.

"A what?" Gimli's voice boomed from behind her. Serena flashed him a brilliant smile over her shoulder.

"A road game!" She said. "A game you play while on the move! In this one, since I still have some questions myself, we take turns asking and answering questions. Each of you all ask me one question, I answer them, then I ask each one of you a question, and you have to answer. Sound good?"

"It does sound rather amusing," Legolas said, grinning slightly, more amused than he had been in…longer than he could remember. There had to be a rule about a perilous quest to save two Hobbits from Orcs being…enjoyable, he thought.

"That it does," Aragorn laughed lightly, more so than anyone present had ever heard him. Serena beamed.

"Great!" She said. "Since you guys already told me all about Frodo and the Ring and stuff, you guys go first. And take turns asking me questions! No interrupting! We'll go clockwise, starting with Boromir." She looked to the aforementioned Lord expectantly, and he shook his head, laughing; her cheerfulness was infectious.

"Very well," He said. He thought for a moment. "Tell us about your family."

"Which one?" She asked. Boromir looked at her with slight surprise.

"All of them, I suppose, if you have more than one…"

"Okay!" She chirped. "First off, about…oh…actually, if I'm right about when and where I am, right about now on the Moon is my mother, and my cousin Mina. There really my only family from my time as Princess Serenity-"

"Princess Serenity?" Legolas cut in. Serena waved her had dismissively.

"Don't interrupt, I'll get to that in a minute," She said. "Now, like I was saying, my mother and Mina were really my only family during the Silver Millennium –except for Luna, who is like an aunt to me- since my mother didn't have any siblings and neither did I. Plus I never knew who my father was. I think he was human though. Or at least on Earth, because my mother was always looking at earth.

"Now, as for my current family, now there's a lot more to tell. There's my mother, Ilene, and my father, Ken –who is the most annoyingly protective father on the planet, might I add- and Sammy –who makes dad look like a laid-back leave-me-alone sort of person in the annoyance department.

"Mom is super cool. She bakes me brownies and takes me shopping, and is always stepping in when Dad starts going on one of his 'my little girl' rants. Although when it comes to school…ugh, she's a worse nag than Luna! Now Daddy…" She continued on about her family with such rapid fire speed that it took nearly all the concentration of the warriors surrounding her to be able to keep up with her words.

"And that's my family," She said with a bright smile a few moments later, in which she had covered the entire story of how her parents met, married, as well as all her most significant memories from bother her own and Sammy's childhood.

"Hey, you were gonna ask me about being Serenity, right?" Serena asked Legolas. He nodded, and opened his mouth to repeat the-

"Sorry!" Serena said brightly. "But it's Aragorn's turn to ask a question!" Gimli laughed, and had he been any less poised or self-controlled, one might have sworn they saw Legolas's eyebrow twitch…

Aragorn, for one, was glad his back was to the group, so they would not see the deeply amused look on his face.

"Well, Ari?" Serena asked him. He blanched at the nickname, and almost stumbled. Now it was Legolas's turn to laugh along with Gimli and Boromir. Serena, he saw when he glanced over his shoulder, was looking perfectly innocent as she looked at him with wide sparkling sapphire eyes.

Grumbling under his breath to suppress a grin, Aragorn turned his back to them and resumed walking once more as he quickly thought of a question to change the subject…

"What of your home?" He asked her. "What is it like where you come from?"

"Oh, it's super great!" She said like a village girl getting her first pair of silk hair ribbons. "We have an arcade that's only ten minutes from my house, and this super beautiful shrine that my best friend Raye's grandfather owns, and she's a priestess in training there, too, and my school is only a fifteen minute walk- well, actually run. I don't know how long it takes to get there when you walk. I never have. I always run…"

"Always late, are you?" Boromir teased. Serena pouted.

"I'm not always late!" She argued. "Just…" She fidgeted. "A lot of the time…"

"Then why do you always run?" Legolas asked. Serena made a blank face.

"Er…cause I like exercise?" She said with slight squeak. She frowned. "And hey! No asking questions out of turn!" She said in a scolding tone, mock-glaring at both Legolas and Boromir. They laughed, and Serena grinned.

"So I take it you love your homeland, am I right?" Gimli asked. "And that doesn't count as my question!"

"Yes it does, but I'll forgive you anyways!" Serena said, throwing him a wink and a smile over her shoulder. "And yes, I do love my home. Not just my howetown, or my homeland, but I love my planet. I guess you could say I've even died to protect it, a few times."

"Died to protect it?" Legolas raised an eyebrow. She giggled.

"Yup," She said with a wink. "Which brings us to your question, about my being Princess Serenity, right, Leggie?" Again, Gimli laughed, Boromir carefully kept his expression blank, and up ahead, Aragorn choked.

The one person that ever calls me anything even remotely like that has to be the one person I would let get away with it, Legolas thought with dismayed amusement, though outwardly, he was sorely tempted to drop his elf-composure and send poisonous glares in every direction.

"What?" Serena asked, wide eyed, innocent faced once more. Legolas only shook his head.

"To answer your question," He said in an attempt to draw attention away from his new…nickname. "Yes, my question about your being this 'Princess Serenity' remains."

Serena sighed, and her eyes fell slightly, almost as if she'd been hoping that she'd be able to avoid that particular subject. She assumed a surprisingly regal and majestic, solemn voice that surprised them all.

"In my time, it was hundreds of millions of years ago," She said. "In some legends, it the numbers of zeros after the one had gotten confused, and had been reduced to a mere thousand years. When in reality my tale of my life as Princess of the Moon goes back before even the time of the creatures that we, in my time, now know as dinosaurs."

"Dinosaurs?"

"Think a veeeeeeery large variety of big, scary lizards. They all died out about 65 million years ago, according to the time I come from."

"Your time? You mean to say you're from the future?" Gimli rumbled. Serena looked slightly uncomfortable.

"I'm pretty sure." She admitted after a moment.

"How far?" Boromir asked. Again she looked uncomfortable.

"At least 65 million, I can tell you that much. But besides that, I have no idea." She sighed. "Ami-chan would be able to tell you…" She shook herself. "But anyways, what I was saying was that a looooong time before my time, when I come from, there was this huge alliance of planets and kingdoms and realms and empires, all bound together in what was called the Silver Alliance. It lasted for it's other name; a millennium, so we, now, duh, call it the Silver Millennium."

Legolas and Boromir, across from each other, exchanged glances.

"Anyhoo, this was all put together by my maternal Grandmother, Queen Selene. Her daughter, Princess Selenity, was my mother, who was Queen Selenity by the time I was one year old. I was named Princess Serenity, after my mother, by my father, whom I never knew."

"Did you know nothing about him?" Boromir asked.

"Nu-uh," Serena shook her head. "Nothing for sure. I mean, I guessed he was from Earth, since mama was always looking at the earth with this…really weird look on her face. Like she really regretted something she'd done down here. Or like she was expecting it to explode at any moment, or turn black or something. Kinda funny…I think she watched it because she was afraid of my father, but it sure wasn't my father that came from earth to attack us."

"Attack?"

'I'm getting there," Serena said flippantly. "Anwayz, I was born, and the daughters of my mother's royal guard -whom were the younger sisters of the queens of the Nine Planetary Empires- swore themselves to me to protect me and serve me until I dismissed them –which I legally couldn't do until I was either super ancient or married and in dowager.

"So, here I am, Princess of this huge collection of Empires, literally the heir of the Queen of the Galaxy, and the sole heiress to the Silver Crystal, the most powerful object in the Universe, and all I could ever do was stare at the Earth. You would not believe the teasing I got from my Senshi."

"Senshi means warrior, does it not?" Boromir asked. Serena blinked at him.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"There are a few dialects here that are similar to what you were speaking," Legolas told her. "When we couldn't understand you." Presently, they came to a bridge that crossed a deep gorge. Serena gulped, and renewed her story telling to distract her from the sight of the dark depths below.

"Ah, okay," She said. "Anywayz, there was this one time I got fed up with my mother not giving me any answers. She wouldn't talk about the Earth at all. So I didn't know if it was desert, or if it was like the moon, or if it was cold or hot or what. Plus I wanted to find out about my father. So, my friend Mars helped me sneak out of the main palace and down to one of the minor transportation rooms. I transport myself down to earth, end up in this beautiful garden beside this really lovely palace, with these two tall white towers…" She became lost in memory for a moment, then she glanced down again, swallowed, and continued quickly.

"So anyway, I'm kinda dumbfounded for a minute, then I hear someone coming…" She swallowed thickly. "I hide behind a tree…and then he comes along." She sighed, a heavy sadness in her voice that surprised all present. Legolas, ahead of her, gave her a hand down off the bridge, and he glimpsed a heavy heart through the windows that was her eyes. She sniffed.

"Sorry…" She said. "It's just…I miss him so much…" While they all greatly desired to inquire as to who this 'him' was, none were blind to the great pain it caused her.

"It's alright," Legolas told her kindly. "You can finish your tale later."

Serena blinked up at him, gratitude on he features, before she engulfed him in a tight bearhug.

"Thanks," She sniffed, wiping her eyes. Legolas, on a bit of a whim that surprised even himself, gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze. She smiled up at him, the sunniness beginning to come back, before she hugged him full around his torso one last time before bouncing ahead.

"Gimli!" She grinned as if she'd never shed a tear in her life, let alone several a few moments ago. "You're turn!"

Gimli was very aware he could ask the question that was foremost on all their minds; who is this 'Darien/Endymion?' But, despite being who he was, he did have a bit of a soft spot for the sunny girl whom he had affectionately nicknamed 'butterfly' and decided to ask a different inquirery. He thought for a moment, then…

"Tell us about your friends, maiden," He told her. "Are they all sorceresses, like you?"

"Sorceresses?" Serena blinked.

"Magic," Legolas told her. "Can they use magic, like you did with that locket." He flicked a finger at the golden, heart shaped locket with the upturned silver crescent moon on it, at her throat.

"Oh, yeah!" Serena said brightly. "Well, only Mina, Ami, Raye, Lita, Haruka, Setsuna, Hotaru, Michiru, Seiya, Yaten, Taiki… Andrew, Molly, Marina, Chelsey, and Melvin are all normal though." She said, then frowned. "Wait, take that back. Melvin is too geeky and freaky to be normal.

"Um…lets see… Well, Mina's a lot like me. She was my cousin in the Silver Millennium we think. She was Princess Minako, of Venus, and the leader of my Inner Court. My Inner Court was also my guard, my Senshi. Well, the Inner Senshi, anyways. There's two parts; the Inners, and the Outers. The Inners, who were also my Court, are Mina, who is Venus, was the leader, Ami is Sailor Mercury –she is sooooo smart!- and Raye is Sailor Mars. She can be soooo mean!" She pouted for a moment. "But I love her anyways, and she can see the future, sometimes, which is super cool, and sometimes gives us a headsup when there's a fight coming up.

"And then there's Lita, who is Sailor Jupiter. Man, can she kick butt! That's how we met, actually. I got cornered by some street gang jerkazoids, and she came along and whooped all four of them!

"Now, the Outers are Haruka, Michiru –they have a relationship, but they refuse to actually confirm what type it is; I think they like keeping us slightly unsure. There's also Setsuna, and Hotaru, who was raised by Haruka and Michiru and Setsuna. Haruka is Sailor Uranus, and she's…well, she's up there with Jupiter on the kick butt-o-meter, but she's got a long way to go before she knows the difference between passion and compassion." She shook her head. "Now there's Michiru, who is a real lady. She's graceful, and beautiful, and elegant, and talented…anyway, she's Sailor Neptune, guardian of the sea." She grinned. "I always liked how that sounded 'guardian of the sea.'" She giggled. "Anyhoo, then there's Hotaru, who's the youngest of us all. She's only thirteen, but her power is as humongo as mine, only it's the opposite as mine. See, my power is to create/heal/cleanse, ect. Hotaru's power…well, lets just say there's a reason she's called the Senshi of Silence and Destruction."

"Such a horrible power, all within a child?" Gimli rumbled.

"She can control it," Serena said. "And besides, who says that destructive power can't be turned towards something that deserves to be destroyed?" She added impishly. Before anyone could reply, she continued. "And last, but not least, is Setsuna. She's super mysterious, and probably the only one that knows where I am, since she's the guardian of time. Her age is…well, no one knows how old she is."

"Then she must be immortal," Aragorn said.


"Oh yeah, well, that goes without saying," Serena said. "Since we're all immortal. It's part of the Senshi gig."

"'Gig?'" Boromir echoed, still struggling with the idea of the golden girl beside him being as old as Legolas or more.

Serena cleared her throat, and drew herself up into what was meant to be an imitation of a pompous salesman.

"That's right ladies, and gents," She began in a booming, cheesy voice. "If you're an heir to one of the Nine Planetary Kingdoms, you can get a nifty transformation wand/brooch that allows you to turn into a flashy warrior in a tight leotard and tu-tu and high heels. You can also get flashy attacks with frilly, verbally activated names with which you can blast any sort of icky negasleez back to the negaverse, or, if you choice, back to the Negamoon, DeadMoon, or DeathDimension.

"But that's not all! You also get daily doses of near-death experiences, lying to your parents 101 –on the job training!- advanced healing abilities, forged medical records to hide those advanced healing abilities, high metabolism, heightened sensory perception," She winked at them. "I learned that phrase from Ami-chan," She said before continuing. The four remaining members of the Fellowship exchanged amused glances. It was indeed a rather odd sort of explanation she had chosen to give in order to explain what being a 'Sailor Senshi' entitled.

"But, once again, that's not all!" She cried. "Along with all this, you get to literally save the universe on a six-month regular basis, several power upgrades –you got your normal Senshi, your Super Senshi, you Star Senshi, and your Eternal Senshi!- but to top it all off, you get…immortality! Yup, that's right folks; Ya die, your princess brings you back. What if you're the princess, you ask? Well, then you get to be a life-death yo-yo for some big intergalactic yo-yo-er!"

By the time she was finished, her voice had become slightly…less than enthusiastic.

"I take it you do not enjoy being a…Senshi?" Legolas asked, exchanging a glance with Gimli; the dwarf had been right. Apparently the girl would have a few abilities of self-defense of the magical genre.

"Oh, it has its perks," She said. "And I'd rather be a Senshi then sit back and watch my friends risk their necks for me and our home every week. And it's better than letting the worth be taken over by an endless string of greedy dark-sleeze…"

"So you have defended your home from numerous attacks?" Aragorn asked. Serena snorted most uncharacteristically.

"Almost every day, some weeks," She said. "Though the worst parts about most of those fights is worrying about civilians or paparatzzis, or newspaper reporters, making sure they don't get hurt. But…the big fights…the fights that, almost every single time I end up either dead or at death's door…yeah, we've had some of those." She began to count off her fingers. "There was Beryl and the Nega-Generals, Ann and Alen –who actually turned out to be okay, just mislead. Then there was…" She took a good half an hour to explain and retell each major enemy.

"But hey," She said when she was finished. "I thought the question was about my friends?" Without waiting, she launched into telling them about her Non-Senshi friends, taking a few moments to explain the Molly/Nephlite scenario.

It was nearing dusk before she had finished that, but she was still animated and beaming brightly.

"Okies, you've each asked a question, so now it's my turn!" She chirped. She furrowed her brow, an adorably thoughtful look on her face. "I know!" She said brightly, clasping her hands together like an eager schoolgirl. She looked at Legolas, beaming brightly.

"How many girlfriends have you had?" She asked with an innocently shinning look on her face. Legolas stumbled in a most un-ef-like fashion.

"P-pardon?" He asked as Gimli roared with laughter, and once again Boromir and Aragorn were suddenly found coughing and choking rather suspiciously, whether at the question, or at the mere fact that it had caught him so off guard, was unclear.

"What?" Serena asked, blinking wide, non-comprehending eyes. "What did I say?"

The remaining members of the Fellowship only shook their heads.

To Be Continued…