Betrayed

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own a piece of cheese, which I carved the shape of Sailor Moon into. But that's about it.

"How do you girls feel?" asked Luna after they had returned to Serena's house.

"I feel real fired up, like I could go run a marathon!" Mina said giddily

"Serena?" asked Artemis

"He was drawn to me Luna. He saved me." Said Serena absently

"Oh was that guy Darien? What a hunk!" Mina stated. This got a chuckle out of Serena.

"See Serena, not all hope is lost." Reassured Luna

"But why didn't he become Tuxedo Mask?" said an exasperated Serena. But there wasn't a chance to answer because there was a key turning into the lock. Serena looked at the clock. "Shit, it's 5 already!" Serena jumped up and looked out the window, seeing Greg's car. She gave a look to the cats that read 'don't make a peep,' and attempted to straighten her hair. "I'll be right back." She said to Mina. She walked out into the hallway where Greg was taking off his suit jacket. Serena wrapped her arms around him and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Hey sweetie, how was your day?"

"Tiring, but overall not too bad, now come here and give me a proper welcome." As he wrapped his arms around her and planted his mouth firmly upon hers.

Serena only went along with it so not to arouse his suspicion. In her heart, she felt like she was betraying Darien, but in her mind she knew that she wasn't the one doing the betraying. Someone had betrayed her, but whom? "Come here, I want you to meet someone." And she took his hand to lead him into the living room.

"Did you put some color in your hair? I like it." Greg said as he was lead into the other room.

"Greg, this is my new friend Mina Rogers." Said Serena, nodding towards Mina.

Mina stood up and reached out her hand. "Hi. Serena is an incredible girl."

"You don't have to tell me that." Greg said as he looked at Serena. "It's a pleasure meeting you Mina."

"You too." Said Mina

"Mina will be joining us for dinner, that is, if she doesn't have anything planned?" said Serena.

"No, I'm free." Answered Mina

"Great! I hope you like Lasagna. I'm going to go put it in the oven. Do you want to come Mina?" asked Serena

"Sure, I love watching homebodies in the kitchen. I usually watch the food channel at 6."

"I'm going to go change out of these work clothes." Said Greg as he squeezed Serena's hand before he left the room.

"How can I bear to break his heart?" Serena murmured after he'd gone.

Mina looked at Serena with sympathy. "Come on," she said, nudging her towards the kitchen, "I'm sure you've got some chocolate around here somewhere."

There was complete silence for about 10 minutes. Serena was busy chopping up cucumbers while Mina flipped through the channels on her kitchen TV. She could vaguely hear Greg typing on his computer. She noted that the cats were napping on a pillow in the corner. "It must have been a tiring day for them; it was a tiring day for all of us." Serena thought. Mina had finally settled on a channel, it sounded like a talk show. Nothing registered into her mind until she heard a name. "Our next guest will be award-winning chef, Lita Sanders, who is here to publicize her new cookbook, Empire Tastes…" and the voice continued. But Serena couldn't hear anything but the buzzing in her ears. She was almost afraid to turn around, afraid that it might not be real. But it was. There on Serena's little white TV was Lita. The cucumber and knife fell from her hands, startling the cats.

"Serena?" asked Mina

"It's Lita!" said Serena, touching her face on the TV screen, as if she was touching her for real.

"Oh wow, I do remember seeing her in my dream. But how are we supposed to get to her?" wondered Mina

"I don't know, but we have to get her somehow." And they drifted into silence, listening to Lita's voice.

"Yes it's a book that shows you how to make these delicious meals with very little ingredients. And it's very healthy too…Yes it's 15.99 and it should be in all the bookstores…I'll be doing a book door starting immediately…I'll be in Manhattan at The Book Depot on the 5th…"

"That's IT!" exclaimed Serena, startling the cats again. "She'll be here in Manhattan in 4 days. We've got to be in that bookstore, and if we're lucky, she'll have had dreams too."

"But she's big and famous, she's not going to believe us." Argued Mina

"Oh yes she will. Don't worry, I've got a plan. But first we need to find Rei. If we can get Rei in on this, it will be 3 against one. And if she doesn't believe us, we'll just have to kidnap her."

"We can't kidnap her Serena!" exclaimed Mina

"What in the world are you girls shouting about? Kidnapping? Serena, what are you into?" said Greg, finally entering the kitchen.

"Is it that time already?" thought Serena. Serena gave a quick look upwards and rubbed her fingers against the mask that was in her pocket.

"Maybe I should go?" Mina asked, getting up to leave.

"No! Please stay, Mina I need you." Serena pleaded. Then she looked back at Greg and the look in his eyes. He was afraid of what she was about to say. "Maybe you should sit down Greg."

"Serena…" he started.

"No Greg, just sit down and listen." "Please give me strength." She silently prayed to her future self. "Greg, did you ever feel like you were meant for something else? Like your destiny was something else entirely?"

"I don't know what it is you are saying Serena, but I don't like it." Greg said.

"Greg, I never wanted to hurt you…" and she drifted off as Greg put his head in his hands.

"Why are you doing this Serena? Are you not happy? Is it something I've done? Just tell me how I can fix this and—"

"No, it's nothing that you've done. Please don't think that any of this is your fault, because it's not. It's my fault."

"Serena—" he started again.

"Greg, I will always treasure what we've had. But I don't deserve you, you deserve so much more than what I can give you."

"You rip my heart out, and you tell me it's because I deserve better!"

"Greg—"

"No. I want a reason Serena." He stood up abruptly, making Mina gasp. And in a flash he had Serena pinned against the refrigerator. "I want a real reason Serena. Is there someone else?"

Serena had never seen Greg get angry, and for a few moments she was actually afraid. "He was one of Beryl's shadow warriors after all…" she silently thought.

"Well is there!" he demanded

"Yes and no…" Serena said

"Yes and no! What kind of answer is that Serena!"

"I don't know!" Serena now was in turn getting angry. "Greg, you're hurting me!" referring to his grip on her arms.

"Let's calm down now Greg." Mina said from across the room

"You stay out of this Mina!" Greg shouted in her direction

"Ok that is IT" Serena said. "You can talk trash to me, but not to my friends Greg!" and she pushed him off of her and he tumbled to the floor.

Now Greg was the one with fear in his eyes. He'd never seen her get angry or display any sort of body strength. His anger began to drift away and all that was left was the hurt. "I've never seen this side of you Serena…it's like you are a completely different person."

Serena sighed and knelt down on the floor beside him. "I am a different person Greg. And it's nothing you did or could have avoided. You may think I'm crazy now, but I had a dream…" she drifted off and took his hand in hers. "You aren't meant for me Greg, and I wasn't meant for you. If you reach deep down within your heart, you'll see that what I'm saying isn't a lie. The only hurt you feel is the hurt of losing something you were so used to having. You loving me is nothing but a force of habit. Can you think back to middle school? I was a ditz, you were a genius…there is no way that we would have ever worked out." She just sat there holding his hand while he stared into space. She looked to Mina after a few minutes, because she was at a loss of what to say.

"You're right." He finally said after what seemed like an eternity of silence. "It's not heartbreak that I feel, it's more like the feeling you got when you were a child, when you were told you couldn't have something, and it just made you want it more. Sure it hurts right now, but with time I'm sure it will fade to a dull memory." And he patted her head and gave her a weak smile.

Serena smiled and leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Greg, if it felt so great and you wanted it so bad to be with the wrong one, imagine what it will feel like when the right one comes along."

Greg smiled again. "Serena, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything!"

"What brought this on? I know you mentioned a dream…"

Serena looked towards Mina and the cats, unsure if she should divulge this information. But she decided to go with her gut… "I had a dream. Only it wasn't a dream, not really. Greg, did you hear of a disruption today, of a monster and some super heroines in sailor outfits?"

"You're Sailor Moon?"

"Yes!"

"I don't know why I didn't see it before, your resemblance is very obvious once it's right in front of your face."

"But you see, I was supposed to be Sailor Moon at the age of 14, not 21. So everything is shifted and turned upside down. I wasn't supposed to marry you, my destiny is with Darien. And you…you had a gift. You could see the future…"

"I've always had that gift, and in a way, I guess I saw this coming…I just didn't want to believe it. But today when I came home and Mina was here with you…I knew that it was all coming to an end."

"Why didn't you ever tell me that you could see the future?"

"I thought that you would think I was crazy."

Serena laughed and kind of looked around the room. "Now who's the crazy one? Greg, do you have any idea why you have that gift?"

"Because you are Sailor Moon?"

"No…this all began over a thousand years ago, back in a time period known as the Silver Millennium. There was a queen and her daughter. The queen was from another part of the galaxy, but took power over the Lunarians, bringing peace and government. The princess was born upon the moon and she had a royal court made up of the other planets in that galaxy's princesses, the sailor scouts. The princess also fell in love with the prince from earth, but such a relationship was frowned up so they had to meet in secret. But the love that they had was strong enough that it would last for thousands of years to come."

"I'm assuming that you are the princess and this Darien guy is the prince?" Greg asked

"Yes" said Serena, her smile reaching her eyes. "Put that peace was not to last, because an evil force known as Metallia wanted to invade. But Metallia couldn't do it alone, so she poisoned the mind of a peasant girl who was in love with the prince herself and was jealous of the princess. Her name was Beryl. She also turned the prince's generals against him, and they are the ones we are fighting now. But Beryl had 7 shadow warriors who reeked havoc upon the moon kingdom. Queen Beryl sees the moon princess alone and attempts to attack and kill her, but she her attack was thwarted by the Prince Endymion. Endymion and Beryl fought until she killed him. The princess felt so much sorrow that her love was dead, that she killed herself. Queen Serenity saw all of this and knew that it was too late to save the moon kingdom, but she could save their souls. So with the power of the silver crystal, she sent all of the moon inhabitants to be reborn one day where they could live happily and peaceful. And in case the Negaforce should somehow attack once again, she sent the guardian cats to live until they would be awakened if they were needed. Before the princess died, she said a prayer that her and her love would be reborn on the same planet so that they could live happily…but anyway, with the last of her strength, the queen sealed Beryl's shadow warriors into the shards of the silver crystal and they were too reborn. You are a rainbow crystal carrier Greg." Serena finally finished.

"So you are saying that I'm some kind of monster from some time in the past?"

"Yes, but you have a choice now. You can fight with us!"

"I would just turn against you…"

"NO! I won't believe that."

"He's right Serena. Upon retracting the rainbow crystal from his body, he will turn into the shadow warrior he once was." Interjected Artemis

"But you can heal him with the Crescent Moon Wand." And Luna did a flip in the air and the wand fell into Serena's hands.

"Your cats…can talk?" asked Greg in disbelief

"Yeah…I guess I should have mentioned that," said Serena, scratching her head.

"But is Greg in any danger now?" Mina asked

"No, at least I don't think so. Zoisite is the one who retrieved the rainbow crystals…" and she drifted off, remembering how Tuxedo Mask battled to get the rainbow crystals to know his own past. "But Jadeite is the one we're dealing with right now."

"Luna, is it possible to retrieve the silver crystal without the rainbow crystals?" asked Mina.

"The crystal was always inside of me," Interjected Serena. "The rainbow crystals are immaterial to it. It formed from a tear I shed over Darien's death."

"So we could avoid the whole rainbow crystals deal if we were to get it before that time came? Isn't that what we are saying?" asked Mina.

"I'm not sure…Beryl would still want her Shadow Warriors. But It's highly possible to avoid that whole ordeal, in fact we should try to make that so. But I don't know how we would retrieve the Silver Crystal." Said Luna.

"I think we need to find the other girls first before we try to figure that one out." Said Serena, with sadness in her eyes.

-----

Darien sat at his computer desk, still tasting her lips on his own. He didn't know who that girl was, but now she was forever born in his mind. He looked at his life with Ami, and how unhappy it was. He remembered that day she told him that she was pregnant. What a laugh that was. He'd decided to marry her under false pretenses, she taking advantage of his pride and responsibility.

A week after they had been wed, she told him that the test was wrong that she wasn't really pregnant. So why didn't he just get it annulled right then and there? That question still burns in his mind to this day. He didn't have any parents that would disown him for doing so….perhaps it was because he loved Ami's mother. She was like a mother to him also, she was a doctor too….she was his boss.

Perhaps it was partly fear, if he dumped Ami then his job would dump him. "You are such a dreamer!" he scolded himself for fantasizing about the girl in the short Sailor Fuku. She'd said that he didn't know her, but she knew him. Was she someone that was in love with him in college? He had to admit, he had quite the fangirl base back then. Could she just have been a girl he'd looked over and not at? All this was causing him to get very sleepy…the last vision in his head was of a girl with a crescent mark on her forehead before he drifted off into sleep.

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Greg, Serena, Mina, and the cats all surrounded Greg on his computer, each eating the lasagna and salad. "Serena there are a lot of shrines….I need a name!" exclaimed Greg.

"I'm trying to think ok!" retorted Serena. After sitting a few moments in silence, Serena finally burst out. "Hikawa Shrine! Rei is at the Hikawa Shrine….or at least she was." Serena offered.

Greg typed in the information and immediately a image of the shrine popped up, followed by Rei's Grandpa and Rei herself. "It says here that the old man is retired and fully bedrest. Rei is the one in charge of the Shrine."

"Rei had the ability of foresight, she could read fire. It's possible that if she's had these dreams, she's tried to read them. If this is the case, then we won't have to explain much." Said Serena hopefully.

"We'll all go together first thing tomorrow." Said Luna with a yawn. "Right now, I feel quite tired."

"You and me both kitty cat" said Mina as she fell on her back.

"You are more than welcome to stay here, Mina." Offered Serena.

"No I think Artemis and I need to get home, cancel some appointments…that sort of thing."

"Right." Said Serena.

After they all had gone and Luna was curled up on the end of Serena's bed, Serena felt really awkward with Greg. It's not like they had never been intimate, but it was the fact that they once had been intimate that made her squeamish.

"Serena, don't look so worried, I'll sleep in the guest bedroom." Said Greg

"Greg…" she started, but Greg hushed her lips with his finger and kissed her forehead.

"Sleep tight my princess…" he said as he gathered some clothes from the closet.

After he was gone, Serena breathed deeply. Today had been a big day. She petted Luna on the head before slipping into a t-shirt and climbing into the bed. Tomorrow should be even bigger.

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AN: So sorry guys that it's been like a month since I've posted anything…this isn't as far as I had originally planned this chapter to go, but that just means that the next one will be even longer right?...eh