Welcome to chapter 3. Thanks to Silver Goddess1 for reviewing for the last chapter.
I would like to take this opportunity right here to dedicate my story to the United States military. I would like to thank the incredible men and women who protect us every day. I would also like to thank the families of those people who have to share their loved ones with the rest of the country.
I would also like to dedicate this chapter to the men and women who ran in today's Marine Core Marathon (10/26/03). I was standing at the finish line watching people go through, and my gosh I couldn't believe that anyone was still stand after the race (it was the first time I had ever watched anything of this sort). I am in complete awe of those people. Twenty-six miles is completely mind boggling to me, and I told my brother that if he crossed the finish line then I would run the marathon next year. He crossed the line so it looks like I might be doing 26.2 miles next year.
Anyways on to the story and out of my life. Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.
Enjoy
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Book I: Alone
Chapter III
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'I have to do something.'
I searched both my mind and my heart for a solution to my problem. My subconscious normally knew what to do. I relaxed my mind and my body; I felt myself loosen and almost go limp.
A slight chill ran through my body and I shuddered uncontrollably. My spirit separated from my body once again, though this time on its own doing. She turned to face me. Her ghostly pale blue eyes locked with mine. The depth in those eyes was incredible, and, I swear, I felt as though I was going to drown in the emotion hidden with in.
When I was able to break eye contact with the apparition, I studied her other features. Even though she was, in essence, me, there were subtle differences between us. She looked slightly older then I, stronger, and more familiar with pain and sadness, and her ghostly hair was pale silver instead of my golden color.
She looked at me through her sad eyes. Finally, she took my broach out of my hand. With slight hesitation, she opened it up to reveal the crystal within. The crystal left its normal incasing, and started hovering in the air between the apparition and me. My spirit cast aside my locket. Then, she removed her own locket from around her neck, and removed the crystal from it.
The two crystals hovered millimeters apart. They began to glow, soft at first then brighter. The light around them began to dance. Soon the two lights became one, and when light had dimmed away, I saw that that there was now only one crystal floating in the air.
My spirit reached out and grabbed the newly formed crystal. Another light flashed so bright that I had to shield my eyes from its brilliance. When I sensed that the light had died down, I returned my gaze to the apparition in front of me. She held out to me a newly formed locket. The new locket was silver and there was, etched in pale gold upon the cover, the outline of a crescent moon.
As I took the locket from my apparition's hand, she gave a very small, sad smile. It almost seem as though she were apologizing to me. With the locket in my hand, my spirit sprang back into my body, and I felt my warmth return.
My mind snapped back into reality. It felt as thought I had spent an eternity with that ghost, but in reality only mere seconds had passed. There were still people in the arcade that needed my help, but now I knew what to do to help them.
"Spirit of the Moon, I summon thee."
My new locket opened up, and the silver rays that shot from the crystal encircled me completely. I felt a coldness on my midsection as the silvers rays moved onto my skin to form a soft golden colored bodice. The silver rays wrapped around my feet, legs, arms, and chest to form silver boots, a mini skirt, gloves, and a collar. An icy ray shot through my chest, brushed against the top of my skirt in the back, and then it snaked around my legs. A pale golden bow appeared on my chest and on my back; the ends of the ribbon in the back hung down to my knees. More rays settled on my forehead and in the buns on the top of my head. Silver crescent pieces were fitted into my buns, and a silver tiara with a pale golden moon lay gently on my forehead. The final silver rays that had once encased me now joined together to for a long staff in front of me. The staff was almost as tall as me, and it was rather simple, being plain silver with only a silver crescent moon atop it.
When I grabbed the staff the light around me faded, and I knew that my transformation was complete. I had become the spirit warrior of the moon, Spirit Sailor Moon. Now I would be able to beat this new enemy.
I ran from the alleyway and burst into the arcade where a dreadful sight met my eyes. Tables were overturned, chairs were broken, and dishes and glasses lay shattered upon the floor. Any sort of hiding place was occupied by a frightened teen or child. But, the awful sight that I was focused on was the monster, much like the one from the night before, and its newest victim.
Andrew lay sprawled out alongside the monster. The beast had Andrew's spirit in its grasp. Before I could move to stop, or even distract the monster, it brought the struggling spirit to its mouth and devoured him.
"NOOOOO."
The gruesome beast turned to me licking its dark, cruel lips. I watched in despair as Andrew's empty body faded into nothingness. The beast watched the expression on my face, and then wickedly started laughing.
"You'll pay for that," I yelled harshly as I gathered my energy together around me for an attack.
The monster continued to laugh as it made its way toward me.
"Dead Spirit Attack."
I pointed my staff at the wicked monster, and a silver light shot out of the moon, and hit the beast square on the chest. The light was absorbed into the monster, and its face changed from an expression of glee to that of pain. Suddenly, the monster exploded, and its remains disappeared into thin air.
I silently prayed that Andrew would reappear on the floor of the arcade, but I knew it wasn't going to happen. During my attack, I had summoned his dead spirit to destroy the monster from within. I called Andrew to do his last act ever for humanity.
When I recovered from my thoughts of sadness, I turned and fled from the arcade.
By the time I reached my house, I could hardly see anymore due to the tears pouring from my eyes. I ran through the front door and up the stairs into my room. I heard my mom calling to me, but I ignored her.
I wasn't able to save Andrew. If the Scouts had been here, Andrew might still be alive.
'The Scouts were right; I'm not a good leader, or Moon Princess. I killed my guard, those sworn to protect me, and my best friends. I killed Darien, my only love from a thousand years ago. And I failed to save his best friend, Andrew. How many more people are going to die because of my? Damn it! I can't do this alone.'
I threw my face into my pillow so that my sobs couldn't be heard outside of my room. But, when I hid my face I failed to see a dark, supernatural hole briefly open where my window was. I didn't see the greenish lightning flash across the opening. And I didn't see the hole vanish just as quickly and mysteriously as it came.
"Serena."
I heard my mom enter my room and shut the door behind her. I felt her warm, comforting touch on my skin. It felt so good to have someone there comforting me, even though she didn't know what I had just done.
"What's the matter, baby."
I cried into my mom's shoulder. I couldn't tell her the entire story of the attack on the arcade, but I could tell her parts. I had to tell someone what happened. This was a chance to get my failure off of my chest.
"The arcade," I sobbed, "was attacked by a monster today. I was…I was heading in there when I saw the thing," a few more sobs escaped before I was able to continue my story. I could feel my mom trying to comfort me by running her hand through my hair. "I saw the monster and ran…and watched from a distance…and…and…after all yelling had stopped and Sailor Moon left," I had to stop for a minute to try and catch my breath, "I walked by and I heard a witness…I heard a witness saying about how Andrew…how Andrew…how Andrew died. Sailor Moon was…was…was too late to save him."
I sobbed harder, and now ear shattering wails could be heard. I had given my mom an idea as to why I was so upset, and she added other facts to what I had just told her. She knew that I had a crush on Andrew at one point in time, and she also knew that Sailor Moon was my favorite heroine. Though these facts weren't completely correct they still gave her an idea of how much these events had hurt me.
I cried myself to sleep that night without even bothering to eat dinner. I lay in bed that night with tears running down my cheeks and into my ears. When I had no more tears to cry, I just lay there breathing hard and wallowing in self-pity. I don't know at what point I fell asleep, but I remember that there was still dimming rays of light coming through my window.
The next morning, I awoke refreshed and surprising early. I listened for signs of life coming from down stairs, but it seemed that everyone was still sleeping.
'I can't believe that I'm up this early. I should still be sleeping. I guess now I'll have enough time to get ready for school, and I'll be able to make it there in time. If Darien and the girls knew that I was awake this early they would be so happy. If Raye were still here, she wouldn't be yelling at me today for having detention.'
A tear slid down my cheek quickly followed by another and then several more. I felt my chest tighten up and my breathing become a bit heavier.
'I can't do this to myself. I can't pity myself for what I've done – it won't get me anywhere. I messed up and killed all of my friends. I killed all of the people who can help me in this fight. I'm all alone because I wanted to be. I wished for it. Because of my stupidity another one of my friends is dead. Nobody else is going do die because of me. I have to do better to make sure of that. I won't…can't let any one else die.'
I stopped the tears from running down my cheeks. With a new determined effort, I threw the covers off of me, and started to ready myself for school.
'Things are going to be different from now on. I'm going to run my life, and I'm going to make sure that it goes my way. I'm going to be that girl that the Darien and the Scouts always were trying to get me to be. I'm going to be that responsible one who makes it to all of the battles on time. I'm going to fight without falling down. I'm going to be brave and not cower when I'm attacked. I'm going to be a good princess, though I don't know now who I'm going to lead. I'm going to stop slacking off, even with my school work. Since I've made it a day without slacking off I know now that it's possible to do. I won't let their efforts be in vain. Yes, things are going to change I can feel it; things are going to be quite different.'
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-The Golden Lady