13

" Raye!" Rini screamed as she ran up the last of the stairs that led to the temple.

Raye paused in her sweeping and smiled at the pink haired girl who was bounding towards her.

" Is Darien here?" Rini demanded as she skidded to a stop and struggled to catch her breath.

" No. Why? Is something wrong?"

Rini nodded as she pulled in another gasp of air. " He didn't go to school today. He didn't go to work today, and he hasn't been home since yesterday afternoon." Rini finally managed to say as her heart stopped racing.

" You're joking right?" Raye demanded as she began to walk towards the temple, her destination her room.

" No. Also Serena's mom is starting to get really worried about Serena. She went out looking for Darien today, that's how I know that he's been missing since yesterday."

Rini replied as she followed the raven haired priestess.

" Let me call the girls and see if Luna or Artemis maybe have a solution. Maybe Darien was with Amy today. She said that she picked up on The Sisters energy pattern. She was going to see if it might lead her to their hideout."

Darien rubbed at his head trying to ease the ache from his temple's as he looked around himself. He had been tricked by the green eyed woman. As soon as they were in a deserted part of the city she had attacked him. Before he could react Darien was knocked unconscious.

He didn't know how long ago he had awoken to find himself in a damp, very dark room. He felt like he was in a cellar, which made him believe that he had been transported into a cell while he was unconscious.

Darien sighed softly and wondered if Serena was in the same situation as himself. He couldn't help but mentally curse himself. If he hadn't broken up with her then she never would have put herself in front of Rubus and Catsy. She never would have been wandering out in the park in little more than his shirt and jacket.

When he had heard that Serena was in the hospital for walking in front of a bus it had torn a part of his heart that was still trying to heal. He had caused Serena so much pain that she had tried to end her life the day that he had broken up with her.

" God damn me to hell for I don't deserve to be anywhere else." Darien whispered to himself and a soft laugh replied to his statement.

" Which God do you pray to little King?"

Darien tried to place the direction of the voice but the room was too small and caused too much of an echo for him to look at who was talking to him.

" Come, come, don't play silent with me now. Answer the question. Which God do you pray too?"

Darien remained silent, not really knowing how to react to the taunting of a stranger.

" Do you pray to Buddha? Do you pray to Shiva? Maybe you pray to the Catholic version of God." The man paused in his questions and laughed softly as Darien felt something cold brush his bare arm.

" I know who you pray to. I know who you pray to." The voice whispered as the room slowly began to fill with light.

" You pray to the sleeping one. You pray to She who awakened the world. You pray to the silver haired maiden….Serenity."

Darien gasped at the mention of Serena's name, a name that no one other than the Senshi knew. Before Darien could think to say anything he felt arms wrap around him, holding him in an embrace that slowly began to crush the air from his lungs.

" Pray to her again. Pray to her as I make you into something that I can use to kill her."

Darien struggled to remain conscious as warm energy began to flow over him, making his muscles relax as he drifted into sleep.

Lita slid open the door to Raye's bedroom before she joined the rest of the Inner Senshi who sat around a tea table. The tea was untouched as were the cakes that Raye's grandfather always gave the girls whenever they came to the temple.

" I take it from everyone's silence that Darien is definitely gone?" Lita asked as she wiggled in between Rini and Mina.

" His energy pattern is no longer on Earth. He's gone, just like Serena is gone." Amy said as she fingered the blue compact computer that sat upon the table in front of her.

" Did you have any luck in tracking down the Sisters like you were trying to today?" Lita asked as she touched the top of Rini's head. The pink haired girl remained silent as another tear ran down her cheek.

Raye handed Rini a napkin as she listened to Amy report that she hadn't found the Sisters, only another youma that had needed to be defeated.

Luna jumped onto the table and sat down in front of Rini. " Tell us who you are, the truth this time."

Rini sniffled and ignored the anger that filled Luna's eyes.

" You are from the future aren't you?" Luna demanded, no longer caring if she hurt the child's feelings. Both Serena and Darien were gone. Darien had disappeared after mentioning that Serena was in the future and that Rini held a key that would allow them to find Serena.

Rini remained silent, half shocked that Luna knew where she was from.

" Stop playing games Rini. Darien said that you had a key that would allow us to go and find Serena. Darien is gone and Serena has been gone for almost a week. Open your mouth and tell us the truth." Luna spat out as the hair upon her back began to rise.

" Luna!" Mina said, shocked by the cold hearted way that Luna had handled the conversation.

The other night the girls had decided that they needed to find out if Darien had been right about Rini, and they had all agreed that Raye would be the best person to talk to Rini, since Rini seemed to open up to Raye before anyone else.

Rini began to cry harder, bowing her head as she loudly sobbed.

Raye pulled the pink haired child onto her lap and rubbed her back as she tried to get Rini to calm down enough to speak.

" I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to cause so much trouble. I was scared and I didn't know that what I did would be so wrong. I was only trying to help Mama. I was only…try.in." Rini's voice disappeared under a wave of sobs.

The Senshi remained silent as they waited for Rini to continue once she could.

" Mama said that the Sailor Scouts would always defend the Earth. She said that if I ever needed help that they would help me. But then the Dark Man came and all of the Scouts were gone. Mama went to sleep and won't wake up. The scouts are protecting the city.

They want me. It's me that they want. I was scared so I ran away. I took the key and ran away. I thought that I could help Mama if I found you in the past and made you go to the future. I thought that it would help the Scouts of my time.

I didn't know that Serena would get taken. That Darien would go missing. I'm sorry, I was only trying to help." Rini's voice dissolved into tears again.

" Well…now what do we do?" Raye asked, anger edging her voice as she directed her comment at Luna who had the grace to at least look as though she was embarrassed.

" Go to the future?" Amy softly suggested as she started typing away at her mini-computer.

" Rini what's wrong with your mother other than her falling asleep?" Lita asked as she rubbed the back of the girl's head as Raye slightly rocked her upon her lap.

" Nothing, she was fine, she was laughing and then they attacked our castle and she just fell asleep and never woke up."

" A spell perhaps?" Mina asked Raye after Rini replied.

" Possibly, but I wouldn't know unless I could touch her mother, sense her energy and any energy that might be attacking her."

" Then we have to go to the future, if for nothing more than to save Rini's mother." Lita said as Rini crawled off of Raye's lap and wiggled back up to the tea table.

" I think that we have to go to the future for more than just Rini's mother. Rubus, Casty, Bertie, Avery and Prisma have only wanted Rini. No matter what they have done, as soon as Rini appeared they did whatever was within their power in order to try and capture Rini. We can probably assume that they are the ones who chased Rini back into the past." Amy said as she closed her mini-computer and set it upon the table.

" If they came from Rini's time than we must also assume that they returned to the future and that is were Serena is." Mina suggested as she and the other Senshi watched Rini pull a small gold key out from under the collar of her shirt. She removed the necklace and placed it upon the table.

" It is not safe to travel through time. I almost got lost when I was trying to come here." Rini said softly as Amy took the key from the table top and began to examine it. " I didn't want to get you lost or hurt, that is why I never told you about where I came from or where Rubus and his Four Sisters came from."

" We'll deal with whatever danger may exist and we've taken greater chances when we went to the Moon." Raye said as she leaned closer to Rini. " You came to the past looking for us to help you. We'll help you, just use this key and we'll figure out the rest, okay?"

Rini smiled and nodded as Amy handed her back the golden key. " We need to leave on the night of a full moon. It's easier to use the key when the moon is either full or new."

" The moon will be full at the end of the week." Raye said as she started to pour some tea for herself.

" Then we leave in three days." Luna said as she watched Rini nibble on a cookie.

End…