Chapter 8—Appearances, Memories, and a Desperate Hope

Serenity followed close behind the Fellowship. She knew that revealing herself now, while within Rivendell's proximity would result in her being sent back. Not that it mattered, she could teleport, but she figured that after landing on Aragorn once, and being sent to the time gates, she decided to avoid that possibility. Using her cloak, and thanking every being in the universe that she had come into her elven grace, Serenity had managed so far, to remain hidden. She had had several close calls, mainly from the elf, Legolas. She had to keep her cloaks hood up, her silver hair had glimmered in the daylight, and moon light and he had glimpsed it, but found nothing. Serenity cursed each time.

The Fellowship traveled south, after crossing the Ford of Bruinen, and made their way west of the mountains. The land grew more vegetated as the traveled and soon they had to slow. Serenity could see that the hobbits were happy, though Frodo seemed to have grown more wary and sullen. As she followed them, she watched how each of the members reacted with eachother. She could see the uneasiness between Gimli, the dwarf, and Legolas.

'Figures. Those races still don't get along.' Serenity sighed after seeing their actions. 'At least they are being civil.'

Boromir seemed to be behaving himself. He hadn't tried to get the ring, but was actually joking with the hobbits now and then. Serenity smiled when he would study Aragorn for long periods of time. Perhaps, she mused, he was seeing if Aragorn was capable of being King of Gondor. Legolas was the bane of her existence right now. She knew that she was still close enough that if she was found, she would be sent right back to Rivendell. Unfortunately, Legolas was an elf, and that made traveling behind the Fellowship hard, extremely hard.

Eventually, they turned toward the three mountains, as Serenity heard Gimli tell the hobbits: Baraz, Zirak, and Shathur. Going as close as she dared, she heard Gandalf and Aragorn talk about which way to go. They decided on the pass of Caradhras instead of the Gap of Rohan. Serenity sighed inwardly, knowing that the next few days would be the last of the warm weather for a while. She looked up as night slowly fell and the moon came out. The urge to fling back her hood and bask in the silvery light from her home flooded her system. She turned her face up toward the silent companion of the earth and sighed. She turned and looked over at the flicker of light from the Fellowship's fire and shivered. Calculating in her head about how far they had traveled, she decided that it would be safe to reveal herself. She stood, stretching her arms and legs and went to take a step. Feeling a sudden presence she turned and stifled a gasp.

"Serenity-sama, before you reveal yourself, I need to talk to you."

Serenity's eyes widened a little more and filled with unbidden tears. She flung herself into the older senshi's arms and sobbed. Pluto rubbed her back and made soothing sounds, allowing the woman in her arms to grieve. Finally Serenity's sobs slowed and she pulled away.

"Pluto, you were dead. But you and Saturn have come back."

Pluto smiled, "It took me a little while to track you down."

"Are the others going to be reborn?"

Pluto almost blanched at the hope building in the smaller woman's eyes. She didn't want to harm Serenity any more and cursed the fates for doing this. She shook her head sadly and Serenity bowed her head to hide the oncoming tears.

"Not that I know of, Serenity. Perhaps if the need arose, then yes, but as of right now it is a no."

"I understand Puu." Serenity said softly. She then composed herself and wiped away the tears. She stood up and put on her "solider" mask. "Is there anything wrong?"

"No. Well, unless you count your Uncle being furious with you. Luckily," Serenity was blushing and looking sheepish, "Hotaru and I were able to calm him down. He's consented to the fact that you are going and says that he'll see you again someday, before he goes to the Gray Havens."

"I needed to go, Sestuna. I feel…a calling. I'm not sure if it is related to Chaos, but I needed to follow."

Pluto grinned, "I know, don't worry. Just be careful tonight. There is evil afoot tonight."

After Pluto vanished, Serenity turned and slowly walked over to the fellowship. She came up behind Aragorn, who was smoking his pipe again. She crossed her arms.

"Smoking is bad for you, Aragorn, haven't I told you that before?"

Serenity blinked and barely jumped back in time and looked at the arrow imbedded in the ground where she had stood only moments before. She looked up and found piercing blue eyes staring back at her. Her heart skipped a beat before she came back to reality and grinned sheepishly. The fellowship relaxed and Gandalf glared at her.

"I would say that you've been around the hobbits too long. Especially Peregrin. You're picking up bad habits."

Serenity had the grace to blush, "Well, how else was I supposed to say I'm here? Besides..."

"You'll be heading back." Aragorn finished for her. She looked at him and smiled, shaking her head.

"Not unless you wish me to go alone. And if you think about sending me with Pippin, don't. For one thing, he's not much of an escort if we came across a band of orcs or even the wraiths. Secondly, even if you did send me back, I'd just end up meeting you somewhere else. Third, you can't stop me."

Gimli let out a hearty laugh. "I have to say that the girl has guts."

"She also followed us all the way here without being found out, that has to say something for her." Legolas said a hint of a smile on his face.

Aragorn looked ready to protest again, but caught Serenity gaze. Even though her face was set in stubborn mode, he could see the pleading in her eyes to not turn her back. He sighed and looked at Gandalf.

"What do you think?"

The wizard looked at Serenity and sighed, "She is right, we can't stop her."

"Then we should allow her to stay with us, that way we can give her what protection is possible?" Boromir said earning him a quick smile from Serenity.

Aragorn sighed, "You can stay Serenity."

Serenity grinned and hugged Aragorn then went over and hugged each of the other members. Going to Frodo, she smiled a bit at him and stood next to him. Frodo felt some of his burden lift from him. In his mind he heard a voice that sounded like silvery mists.

'Don't let the darkness burden you Frodo.'

The next day, the Fellowship continued following the path they had started. Serenity stayed near Frodo, her concern for him kept her at his side. Aragorn was in a fouler mood the normal and had gone slightly ahead to scout the area. Boromir chuckled to him self and glanced sideways at Gimli.

"It appears that they will be fine."

Gimli raised an eyebrow, "The lass and Aragorn? Aye. Although neither of them wanted for her to leave last night, even if Aragorn did protest. I think that this journey will be interesting."

Serenity laughed merrily at something Pippin said, but her head snapped up and she looked around, her eyes cold steel. She pulled Uranus's space sword out of her space pocket and started running. As she passed Boromir, he noticed the seriousness look on her face.

"Serenity, what's wrong?!"

Aragorn and Gandalf turned only to see Serenity run past them. She stopped and looked around when she was a few feet ahead of the group. Aragorn and Legolas came up to her.

"What's wrong, do you see something?"

Serenity glanced at Aragorn and shook her head. "I sense something though. I'll be back."

With that, she took off running, ignoring the protests behind her. As soon as she was far enough away, she shifted into her solider form. Feeling the presence getting stronger, she hurried. The forest slowly cleared into a clearing. Cosmos kept to the trees, but looked out for what was bothering her. She narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on the sword in her hand. Deciding that nothing was going to happen unless she made the first move, she walked out into the clearing, scanning the area as she went.

Laughter filled her ears and she looked around, her eyes stopping at a figure on the other side of the clearing. Her eyes widened then she cursed.

"I thought I had banished you to the farthest corners of the universe. Why are you here Chaos?"

The figure moved its head toward the side. "Cosmos, you should know better. You know that I will come back eventually. Besides, I felt your power here and decided to see what was so important for you to be here for this long."

Cosmos clenched her fist, "Leave, now."

"I see," Chaos laughed, "You've fallen and have a new love? Perhaps I will see you again soon Cosmos. Enjoy your last days alive."

Chaos vanished and Cosmos felt the evil presence lift from her soul. She collapsed to her knees and dehensined. Right now, provoking Chaos into a battle would be crazy and futile. With her mind as confused and mixed up as it was, it would be a one sided slaughter. She heard faintly the Fellowship coming up behind her and she turned looking at them. Legolas, being the fastest was immediately checking her quickly for wounds. He looked up at her face and saw the pain and suffering in her eyes.

"Lady Serenity?"

Serenity looked at him, her face puzzled, as if she had just noticed that he was there. Then she looked and saw each of the different members and bent her head, wiping away any trace of tears.

"Sorry about that. I was mistaken. I didn't find anything…I guess it must be all the talk."

"We'll stop near here anyway. There is a lake near here and good cover." Gandalf said, Serenity nodding.

They set up camp and risked a fire. The warmth of the fire pierced the cold shadow that Serenity felt surrounding her. While she watched Merry and Pippin learn basic sword fighting from Boromir, Serenity cursed Chaos. If she'd known that it was Chaos herself, she would have been prepared. But she had thought that it was one of her flunkies. Rubbing her temple, a bowl of food was placed in front of her and she looked up at Gimli. She smiled and took it and the dwarf sat down next to her. She ate a little then noticed that he wasn't smoking. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Usually you smoke, what's wrong?"

"I've decided not to smoke my pipe around ye lass. Got to save what I can."

Serenity smiled softly, "Thank you Gimli."

The dwarf shrugged and sat back, chuckling at the hobbits. Serenity finished her food and when Gimli was not looking, she slipped out of the sight of the Fellowship members. Stepping through the bushes, she smiled a little despite how she was feeling. Looking at the lake, she smiled to herself as she looked at the stars reflected in the clear waters. Carefully going over, she found a boulder with a flat top and sat down on it. Reaching back, she pulled loose her hair, letting it fall in silver waves down her back and toward the ground. Humming lightly, she took a brush out of her subspace pocket and started to brush her hair.

After seeing Chaos again, her thoughts were turned toward the Starlights' and Kakyuu. She missed them, even though she had just recently seen them four months before. She giggled at the memory of how she had arrived.

Flash Back

Cosmos walked into the throne room and smiled to herself. She guessed it was the day for people to be allowed to gain an audience to see Kakyuu. Watching them for a few moments, Cosmos decided to have some fun. Walking forward, she motioned for the wide eyed people to stay quiet. Reaching the front, she saw the Starlights' and Kakyuu deep in conversation about some problem. Grinning wickedly, she turned and motioned to the people to follow her lead. The people, already knowing about the senshi's mischievous side, nodded. She turned and shifted to her Eternal form and nodded at the people. The gasped and that caught the four's attention. They looked up and saw Eternal Sailor Moon fall toward the ground. She heard their cries of surprise and felt someone catch her. Fighter's voice came to her senses and she opened her eyes.

"See? I did fall for you," she whispered grinning. Fighter made an irritated sound and dropped her.

"HEY!?!"

"She's fine." Fighter stated walking away. Serenity shifted back into her Cosmos form and jumped to her feet. She bowed to the people, gaining their laughter then went to greet her old friends.

End of Flash Back

Serenity laughed as she remembered how irritated Fighter had been. After Endymion had died, Fighter had tried to court her again, but eventually they decided to stay as friends, more like siblings. She'd stayed for three months on that trip, before she had made the decision to come home. A sigh escaped her lips and she stretched and looked at the moon. She shivered and smacked herself inwardly for forgetting her cloak. Hearing foot steps, Serenity turned to see Boromir. She smiled faintly at him and he held out his hand. Blushing and grinning sheepishly, she took her cloak from him and wrapped it around her, feeling the warmth enter her.

"Thank you."

"They sent me to find you. Aragorn was worried about you, at least until Gandalf told him not to be."

Receiving no response, he looked over at her. Serenity was holding an object in her hands. She looked at him, her eyes shiny with tears.

"Is it foolish to have hope when there is none?"

"Sometimes, but sometimes it is necessary to keep going."

"But, what if it is hope that those long gone will come back?"

Serenity clutched the locket to her chest, her eyes closed. The wind blew her hair and hid her face for a second. Boromir watched for a few moments.

"I do not know for whom you mourn, Serenity, but perhaps it is time to allow them to rest."

Serenity gasped and looked at him. For a moment he could see the pain, but it was quickly hidden. She turned and looked toward the moon.

"Yes, it's time. I've held on too lon—"

A wolf like cry pierced the air and Boromir grabbed Serenity and hurried toward camp. She allowed herself to be lead, wondering what could be so scary about wolves. They burst into the camp and Boromir noticed that the others were already packing. He went over and grabbed his stuff, ignoring Serenity, who also picked up herself. She looked at the older men and wondered what was going on.

"What's so bad about wolves?"

Everyone stopped and looked at her. Finally Aragorn spoke.

"Those are not wolves, Serenity, they are Wargs."

I know I haven't updated in a long while. I just…could…get inspired. Even the reviews I got didn't help. That's why I made this chapter a little longer. If you like this length let me know! Oh, let me know how I'm doing. Thanks to my faithful reviewers, you know who you are. I love you guys to death!!! Anyways, read, Review and Enjoy!

Princess Silver Serenity

P.S—Here's a special preview for next time.

"They have us surrounded!!"

Gandalf cast his magic out creating flames, but the Wargs pressed forward. Serenity bit her lip watching fearfully.

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"COSMIC MOON POWER!!"

Ribbons surrounded Serenity's body, glowing silver. The Fellowship watched in awe as a flash of light and Cosmos stood in front of them. She moved her arms and hands as if she was firing a bow and arrow.

"I call upon the power of Mars!" Her face contorted into concentration, the first Warg came through Gandalf's flames. "Mars Flame Sniper!!"

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He whipped her around violently. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Tell you, tell you?! How could I? How could I tell you that everyone I come close to ends up leaving, leaving me behind to suffer without them!

Hope that drives people nutz. :-p Anyways, Ja ne!