Welcome back to my fic! So so so very sorry that it has taken me so long to update. I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and happy New Year. My thanks goes out to Serena CrystalMoon, magicgirl10, Sassafrass87, Sailor Bubs, Ellen, SetsunaFanGirl, Silver Moonlight-81, and lord anime. Thank ya all for reviewing!
Dedication: The men and women that serve in the USA military.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Book I Alone
Chapter IX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I returned from Mrs. Heart's house even more depressed than before. I couldn't stop thinking about Molly's poor mother. I could tell that she had been completely devastated by the news of her daughter's death. Her eyes were vacant, cold, and unseeing. Her limbs didn't want to move properly so she just sat still and allowed various relatives to take care of things for her. Her voice sounded strained and empty. I couldn't believe that she was the same woman who had been a second mother to me while growing up.
I threw myself onto my bed and tried to will myself not to think of her. But every time I closed my eyes the image of Mrs. Heart taunted my mind.
'The poor woman – this is all my fault. It's not going to happen again, not to anyone.'
When I was finally able to rid myself of the image, I entered into a restless sleep where dreams plagued my tried mind.
Blackness, a dreadful, awful blackness filled the room. Evil and despair lurked in every corner. The room was not fit for any living soul.
This only light in this hellish black was an uncanny glow in the center of the room. It barely managed to illuminate a man sitting on a throne.
He sat straight up in the chair and had his legs crossed. Long fingers curled around the arm rests of his mighty chair. His long dark hair fell lightly onto his shoulders and his bang covered his eyes. Pale lips were pressed into a thin line with the corners turned slightly down.
Suddenly his lips parted slightly and a simple unemotional phrase was spoken by him.
"I am displeased."
"I…I apologize my Lord," came the fearful stutter of an unseen man.
"You have made little progress in the destruction of Earth. I grow weary of your failures. I am losing patience."
"My Lord, there…there is a brat who keeps thwarting my attempts to invade."
"There is only one protector of the planet and you can't kill her? You have her out numbered. Or is she to strong for you? Must I force someone to assist you? Do you need help?" The man taunted, his voice still completely even and inexpressive.
"No…no my Lord I shall be able to take care of her myself.'
"I am pleased to hear that, but remember that my patience is wearing thin. I would hope that you will have this little problem taken care of by the next new moon on Earth. And be thankful that I am being generous. A man of less character would have killed you already for your failures."
"Th…thank you, my Lord, I will not fail you."
"Get out of my sight," the seated man said as he flicked his wrist. A light shot from his hand and flew to a spot a few yards away. It illuminated a muscular man with blood-red hair standing in fear. He was only was visible for a few seconds before he disappeared from the room.
The man sat on his throne darkly murmuring to himself for a few moments before he disappeared in a brilliant flash of light.
I awoke with a start. I knew that I had that dream once before, maybe not the exact same dream but one very similar to it.
I struggled to imprint the dream into my memory and recall my first one. I recalled that the man sitting on the throne was both of the dreams. Remembering the awful sound of his voice sent chills down my spine.
In both dreams the man was displeased with some one, a man, one of his subordinates. I could only remember getting brief glances at him, but he seemed familiar, like I'd seen him somewhere important.
'I know I've seen him somewhere. Blood-red hair isn't that common.'
Suddenly it clicked – the red-head in my dreams was the same man that appeared after Molly and Melvin's death.
The man's evil laughter surfaced in my mind and rang in my ears once more.
"Bastard," I muttered aloud. This man was responsible for the death of my friends and then he shows up in my dreams. I couldn't believe it, yet I had to.
The first dream had come to me before I had seen the red-headed man. I could eliminate his presence in my dream as being a result of my subconscious.
Why and how then was I dreaming about him? And who was that other man? I was quite certain that I had never seen him before.
'I hope that I never will see him – he gave me the creeps.'
There had to be something important going on with these dreams. I just couldn't quite place what exactly was happening. I was going to have to get to the bottom of this dream mystery all by myself.
'If Raye were still here then I could just ask her to do a fire reading or whatever other priestess thing she does. But she's not here, not anymore,' thought while letting out a long, deep sigh of sorrow.
I let that train of though drop and returned to my original idea of trying to remember the dreams. I remembered that there was a conversation, but try as I might; I couldn't recall what was said. I could only remember a few random words.
'Damn, damn, damn, this isn't getting me anywhere.'
Frustrated, I pick up the closest object, my stuffed bunny, and hurled it across the room. It knocked into my desk lamp which fell to the floor with a satisfying crash. I knew that I would regret later that I broke then lamp, but I didn't care right now. It helped ease my frustration.
I could hear footsteps coming closer to my room. Apparently the crash was heard elsewhere in the house.
"Serena honey, are you okay? What was that?" My mom asked after she poked her head through the door.
"Um…I just kinda klutzed out and knocked my lamp off my desk. That's all it was," I answered her with a pathetic little smile on my face.
"I'm relieved that it wasn't anything major. I'll go get the vacuum and help you clean it up."
As soon as my mother left I walked over to the broken lamp and removed the incriminating bunny from the wreckage. My mom soon returned with the vacuum and had my mess cleaned up with in a few minutes time.
"Honey, dinner is ready. Do you want to come down and eat with us?" She asked, her voice full of concern.
I frowned slightly and asked her if I would be able to eat in my room. As bad as it sounds, I didn't really want to be in the company of my family at the moment. I didn't want to answer my parent's concerned questions. But I mostly wanted to avoid Sammy's alert mind.
"Sure, Serena, I'll be back up with it in a second."
'I love my mom. She can be so understanding at times,' I thought to myself. I occupied myself by starring at my stuffed bunny until my mother came back with my dinner.
"Thanks, mom," I told her with a grateful smile when she handed me the plate.
"Just don't forget to bring it down stairs when you're finished. Enjoy!"
I took the plate from my mom and sat at my window seat. I ate my dinner while I gazed at the moon. The moonbeams shone through the window and fell softly on my skin. The light danced upon my body caressing it gently. It almost felt like it was trying to tell me something. Suddenly it hit me:
'The moon – there was something about the new moon in my dream.'
I glanced up at the giant orb in the sky and estimated that I had three weeks until the new moon.
'Something's going to happen before or on the day of new moon. But what?'
I turned back to the moon in hopes that I would give me an answer to my question, but I received none.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You like? Drop me a note to let me know what you thought.
Sorry that it was a short chapter. I am sorta suffering from writers block (not to mention stress). Any suggestions as to what you would like to see might give me some ideas for the next chapter.
I also can't tell you guys when the next chapter will be coming out. I will try my hardest to get one out before the start of lent (Feb 25 I think) (damn school damn damn damn it) because I'm giving up internet for the 40 days until Easter. So feel free to send me nagging e-mails telling me to update a few times before then.
Sailor Bubs: thanks for your input. Sorry that I won't be able to give any further info on the black hole thingy for a little while (at least not until Serena sees it). P.S. – I always thought that pedestrians were worth 50 points ;) oh well!
-The Golden Lady