Disclaimer: I am rich and powerful and secretly rule the world. However, the owners of Sailor Moon still stubbornly refuse to sell the rights to me. So I will content myself with occasionally borrowing the characters and places. The Court are mine though. But I am considering selling off Puck.

Note: Samantha: A girl after my own heart! Good for you, speak your mind! Vent!

BSSM Otaku: Wow, you really don't like D, do you?

~Shadow Angel~: lol. I warned you I was evil.

Alisai: I just finished watching the Special Edition DVD of The Holy Grail… I love Python.

Amethyst Serenity: You're on my fave story list, too. Quit reading mine, no stop right now and go finish Farewell. You can read the rest of this when you're done young lady. J

A hugemongous thank you to everyone who reviewed. I love getting reviews. Even annoyed reviews. ;) So I hope you enjoy this chapter to review some more. This one may get rewritten tho as I was very tired when I wrote it and it may not be all that coherent.

Okay, I'll repeat something I said a while back: I have only seen the anime. And I have yet to actually see all of it in order. So I am seriously playing with the timeline. The outers are here by popular demand, the girls have fought Beryl and um… I dunno. Assorted other critters. Whichever ones you like. Now, this has gone on long enough. Here's the Story:

Chapter 17

Darien looked as if she'd just stabbed him in the back. He choked, stared at her for a moment. "What am I doing here? Serena, I love you! I'm sorry for what I did and I…"

"Want me to forgive you? Want us to be together for the rest of eternity… again?" she asked sweetly, her voice soft, her eyes meeting his.

"Yes. Exactly," he looked so relieved that she understood. Serena smiled up at him, and tilted her head slightly.

"Oh, Darien, Darien…" she stepped closer, he smiled down at her, waiting for her to throw her arms around him and cry on his shoulder… "It's just not meant to be," she said quietly. "I see that now. You were right all along."

"What? I was…"

"You never felt as I did. At least not as deeply, and you were kind enough not to- well, string me along. I thank you for that, Darien." She kissed his cheek, and stepped back.

No. This was all wrong. This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen at all! "Serena, what are you talking about?" he stared at the girl before him. "I. Love. You." He grabbed her shoulders. "And you love me, Serena! You always have, and I was too stupid, too blind! I thought our being together would kill you, but being apart is killing us both…"

"Ahh… I always wanted to be in one of those sappy teen movies," muttered someone nearby. Serena recognized Dee's voice, and she laughed.

"I'm sorry, Darien, but you have to let go," she pulled away from him, out of his reach. "And I don't feel as though I'm being killed at all! I feel alive and well. And so do you, if you let yourself think! You never wanted what we had and you rejected that destiny, and I did too. It's gone!" She smiled at him, looking so happy, so beautiful… he couldn't remember her looking this beautiful before. She had changed, after all, more than the hair or the make-up or the clothes: her eyes held wisdom now, the wisdom of things forgotten and secrets neither he nor any other could ever learn.

She had changed beyond knowing and she wasn't his any more. She was one of The Court. They had taken his Serena and replaced her… Darien frowned as he looked at her. He had to save her. It was that simple.

"Serena," his voice was calm, "let's just go, we can walk and sort this all out, I know it. It'll be like old times…"

The-girl-who-was-not-Serena shook her head, the light catching the countless shades and colors of gold in her hair. "No, Darien. Not this time. Go back to the Scouts- I promise you they'll explain everything," ocean blue eyes held him, he was falling into them, deeper and deeper… he didn't want to ever come up for air. "Please, go, Darien…"

She asked him, and he had to go, had to make her happy. Anything to make her happy. He turned and left, with the sure knowledge that as soon as he found the scouts it would all be okay, and he'd understand everything.

* * *

Ash chuckled as Darien left. "You're brilliant, Sea. A little scary, but brilliant!"

"Are you okay?" Thea asked, rising from the bench to stand beside her friend.

"Sea, that guy is a jerk!" Dee ranted. "Goddess, he sounded exactly like Freddie Prince Jr. or something."

"I was thinking more like David Boreanaz, the whole tortured Angel thing," mused Susan.

Gabriel grinned. "Hey, he was a total wimp. I could take him any day."

"Gabe," Quinn was smirking, "I hate to admit this but there aren't many people you can't take down any day… the guy wouldn't have a chance. Now if Puck tried to fight him…"

Puck laughed. "Wouldn't be much of a fight. I'm a little too quick for him. He's kinda slow if you get my drift…"

"Oh stop it," Serena said, but she was half smiling. "Once upon a time I'd have done anything to get that speech from him."

"And now?" Theirry asked quietly, his eyes meeting hers solemnly. She reached up and touched his hair.

"Now I've already forgotten half of it… I didn't feel anything. Just a little sad for what could have been…" she spoke barely above a whisper, a smile barely touching her lips.

"Well if you've forgotten it, I'll be happy to remind you!" Illianna chirped with a giggle.

Dee turned to her. The tall amazon arranged her face into one of tortured anguish. "I. Love. You. Illianna," she cried out, doing an incredible imitation of James T Kirk. "I love you! Forgive me! I am so sorry for what I did… er, I forgot it… ?"

Thea jumped in and whispered in her ear. Dee grinned triumphantly and announced. "Ah. I am so sorry for ripping out your still beating heart and feeding it to that pack of rampaging wolverines on Speed! Now, let us take a walk, as we did in the olden times!"

Illianna, her eyes wide and teary, began to sob. "Oh, Darien, Darien, of course! I am so sorry for ever doubting your love for a moment! I never want to leave you again!" she cried out in a Southern drawl. "Why my love is simply overwhelmin'…" She swooned at Dee's feet.

The Court cheered and applauded.

Diana wiped away an invisible tear. "Oh, touching, touching! I could feel the emotions!"

Serena was giggling. "Lia! You forgot the passionate kiss! It comes before the swoon!"

Lia sat up and arched a regal brow. "And get punched out by Dee? I'd be in plastic surgery for years!"

Puck and Gabriel pouted. "Aww," Puck sulked, "I wanted to see the lesbionic love action… AIEEE!" He ducked as Dee turned and swung.

"Hey, not that I mind watching Dee beat Puck to a bloody pulp, but I'm starving!" Susan said.

"Who's up for food?" Quinn asked, raising his hand.

"MEEE!" Serena jumped. Everyone laughed.

"I second that emotion," Dee added, dropping the nearly suffocated Puck.

Ash tugged his purple-tinged comrade up. "Let's go!"

~ * * ~

Four girls and one very upset guy sat in the small apartment's living room. Darien was seething, itching to hit something, anything, though preferably a pale blond teenage boy. He had been at Lita's apartment for an hour, discussing the problem of Serena with the scouts. So far they had made almost no headway.

"Okay," Ami said patiently, "Let's list what we know for facts. Start with Serena."

Mina frowned. "Well, he hair is different. She doesn't wear the meatballs anymore."

"Her clothes are different too," added Lita. "She used to wear, well, normal outfits. And she never wore black. Or sunglasses."

"Now she only wears designer labels," Mina said, absently playing with the hem of her own skirt.

"She's shallow," Rei said. "I mean she was always ditsy and clumsy and forgetful; but now she's not clumsy, but she doesn't care as much about anything. Just her appearance, and her new friends," her voice was dripping with sarcasm on the last part.

"I'm never going to forget that new room of hers," sighed Ami. "But anyway, let's…"

"Her room?" Darien asked, looking at Ami curiously.

"Yeah," Mina spoke for her, "she's redone it. Remember the moons and bunny rabbits? And the dolls?" Darien nodded. "They're gone."

"Gone?"

"Yep," Rei said with a scowl, "She's gone for the whole Hindu Harem look."

Ami grinned, "I wouldn't put it just like that…but you have the right idea. Lots of bold colors and intricate prints… dark wood, gold, very bold."

"Ugh, enough about the room!" protested Lita. "I kind of liked it, anyway. The pillows were cool. But we were talking about the Court?"

"Oh, yes, the Court. What do we know about them?" Ami asked.

"They aren't normal," Rei said simply. "That girl gave off some serious energy."

"And they're way to pretty," added Mina. "No humans can be that perfect. Especially not teenagers."

"They're really, really close," Lita said. "You can almost feel the connection. Around them you just feel like so… so… out of it. A total outsider!"

Darien was looking thoughtful. "There's twelve of them: six boys and six girls. But they aren't paired off. Only Serena and Theirry," the way he said the name made it an insult.

Four sets of eyes stared at him. "What did you see at the park? You haven't told us," Rei reminded him.

Darien took a deep breath. "They were all there- at Our Bench. There was a stereo playing Spanish music and Serena and that boy were dancing together. You should have seen them… Serena was so graceful, like an angel- I'd forgotten how wonderfully she danced. But they were dancing like professionals, and it wasn't choreographed, they just knew. Like they'd danced together for years." He shook his head. "And then- then she kissed him. I just stared, I couldn't move to stop it. Finally when I could move, they'd parted and I tried to talk to her…" He stopped.

After a moment, Ami gathered the courage to prod him. "Darien? What happened next?"

"She kept talking about how right I was to break it off. She even thanked my for it! Told me how wonderful I was to have broken up with her, how happy she is now. I tried to make her see, to understand that I love her. I always have, you know, and I told her it was killing me to be apart. And she laughed. And then she sent me back to talk to you.

"You wouldn't believe how happy I was to leave, because she asked me too," he said in a whisper.

"Wait," Rei was staring at him, "You left because she asked you too?"

Darien's head shot up and he glared at her. "I was looking in her eyes and she did something… hypnotized me or something. I could feel Their power behind it, too. She looked into my eyes and asked me to leave! She told me it would all be okay if I left, if I came to talk to you!" he glared at the others accusingly.

"Serena? Serena hypnotized you?" Lita was looking at him as if he'd turned into some sort of lizard.

"I don't know! I just know that as soon as she asked me- told me- to leave I had to. I would have done anything she asked me just then. I would have jumped off Tokyo Tower…"

"But she wouldn't…" Mina started.

"Oh wouldn't she? You forget, she's one of Them now," Rei said heatedly. "She's not Serena! She's… someone else, like a changeling or something…"

"A changeling!" Darien looked at her, his eyes wide. "I thought something like that when I was in the park. That maybe she really wasn't Serena, just looked like her…"

"Oh my god! What if the real Serena is somewhere else, trapped or hurt, or…" Lita was horrified.

As the other four launched off into a frenzied discussion of where the real Serena might be hidden, they failed to notice Ami slip away to the kitchen. She pulled out her communicator and quickly punched a few buttons. A few seconds later, Sailor Neptune's face swam into view.

"Neptune, there's something very wrong with Serena…"

"We know," the other girl interrupted. "Where are you?"

"We're at Lita's."

"We'll be there shortly." Neptune's face disappeared. Ami shut her communicator with a sigh of relief. Surely the Outers would have some answers to her questions. Who were the Court? How was Serena connected to them? Would she ever be back to normal?