Merry Christmas!

Chapter 2

Shadows in the Snow

"C'mon RiRi! Be a good little girl!" Serena finds herself pleading to the small fuschia creature less than 2 feet high, RiRi always giving quite a struggle when it came to getting dressed.

"RiRi!" she sings without a care in the world it seemed as she whacks Serena in the face with the Santa Claus shaped lollipop she was sucking on (okay, candy at 8AM was not a good idea for little toddlers, but what does Serena know of such things?).

"Oh, RiRi!" Serena frustratingly sighs, finally pulling on the cute tiny ballet slippers Mom had gotten for "her youngest child" to wear.

Now onto the rest of you, squirmy bean! Serena is just about to delve into the really hard part of dressing a bouncing pink ball of energy. "Now this goes over your head, RiRi, I know you don't like that." Serena prepares the little red velvet dress to yank over RiRi's head when a knock comes to the hotel room door. In a flash, Serena's tiny subject squiggles away from her fate, RiRi's poorly aligned undies sliding down as she hops up twice to turn the doorknob (RiRi having no fear of strangers it seemed).

"Good morn—huh?" independent Alex Sokova was not much on children, the sight of a half-dressed, googol-eyed babe at her feet not the most pleasant sight in the morning.

"Kitten? Are you---?" Alex dismisses the brainless look RiRi was giggling up at her as she peeks inside the room for Serena.

"I'll be right there!" Serena quickly finishes pulling her own clothes on in the other room.

"Look, Amara---isn't she just the cutest? No, no, RiRi, a little girl still needs her panties," Michelle, herself a softy when it came to those wide eyes and chubby cheeks, scoops up the tiny child, she too now struggling to dress the wriggling RiRi as she sticks the baby right in Alex's face. "Isn't she—ugh--- darling?" Michelle coos,. Alex and RiRi exchange blank looks.

"Right…uh…whatever, Michelle," Michelle chuckles at her cousin's discomfort around little children as she follows Alex into the room, closing the door behind them.

"Michelle," Alex states simply, her observant eyes taking in the "gift" basket on the bed full of candies and cookies and Christmas treats. Her eyes slit as she reads the card attached, courtesy of a certain scrawled rock star's signature.

"I know, Amara, I know," Michelle answers with a sigh, she too recognizing the danger signs in this forbidden relationship.

"Good morning you two! Have some! Have some!" Serena bounces in in her own Christmas outfit, it all velvet fuschia making her appear a meatballheaded elf.. Alex's defensive eyes can't helpbut change to a smile upon gazing at her treasured princess, she knowing from last nights little outburst, she would have to deal with the subject on her mind more delicately--- but that was something Alex Sokova wasn't accustomed to doing.

"Kitten—don't you look adorable this morning?" Alex smiles making Serena blush as if a man had just complimented her little dress.

"Thank you Alex," Serena smiles those big blue eyes." RiRi! Please be good for Michelle!" she scolds her to stop wriggling enough for Michelle's efforts to dress her.

"About last night—" Alex was one to always get straight to the point, it eating at her mind all night how she drove her princess to tears at the dance… all because of him.

"Last night? RiRi be good! Don't wiggle anymore!" Serena goes to Michelle's aid and holds up RiRi's tiny arms (boy, she's strong!) for Michelle to slide on RiRi's dress, it proving to be an impossible task for one person. Little RiRi knocks Serena to the ground on her head. Even Michelle, by now flustered and red-cheeked, becomes exasperated with the bouncing jelly bean, RiRi about to defeat the two adults attempts and sprint off to spread mischief wearing only her underwear somewhere else.

"Child—CEASE." With a raised eyebrow and a few sharp words low and commanding, Alex does what Michelle and Serena's gentle urgings and cooing could not. RiRi on the spot drops Serena's spaghetti strands she was hanging from in mid-motion, her eyes going wide as she looks up to the commanding figure standing in front of her.

"RiRi?" she whispers the baby question as Michelle hurriedly takes the chance to shimmy the velvet frock over RiRi's head.

"There," Michelle sighs in a huff, her hands on her hips, as Alex helps Serena up off her face on the floor.

"You are amazing, Alex!" Serena hops up with a smile, all pain of the emotional night before forgotten.

"I'm glad you still think so, my pretty kitten," Alex wishes at this moment for Serena to keep thinking so and believe in her judgment when it came to more important matters like a certain dark-haired boy.

"Always, Alex," Serena gives her tall friend a big Serena-hug, she wanting this Christmas Eve (no matter how sad and lonely for her) to be special with the beloveds she had around her.

"Good. Because I think you're an amazing person yourself," Alex takes a tender stance unusual for her, hugging the innocent little princess to her chest protectively in a way she reserved only for one other precious maiden.

"Yes, you are Princess," Michelle smiles at the pair, placing an agreeing hand on Serena's shoulder. "Please stay this way," the warm toasty feeling inside Michelle is threatened by the foreboding intuition she's been having of late, of something terrible going to happen to this little girl.

Broken wings, Michelle sees the same message in Amara's eyes, both of them shaking their heads determinedly not to let that ever happen.

"Yes, why wouldn't I?" Serena's naiveté was another one of her great strengths, she smiling at the looks of concern on the two older scouts faces, her indomitable spirit not able to grasp the upcoming dangers.

"Of course," Serena feels Alex's strong grip tighten even a bit more around her, as if she were afraid to let go.

"Yes! Today's Christmas Eve isn't it? Oh, Serena did the girls give you theirs to hang on that sweet little tree of yours? Would it be too much for ours to join in the holiday fun?" Michelle, not wanting to depress further this girl hanging on depression already (her empathic mind could easily pick that up, though she didn't pry) changes the subject with a bright smile. She whips out the little plushie dolls Lita had just given them as they passed by in the hall (I think Lita made mine a bit too plump, hmm, Michelle vainly thinks critically of her own Santa suited doll).

"Ooh, RiRi!" Quiet up until this moment, the child comes to life at the revelation of a new dollie to play with, she grabbing it from Michelle's hand and making a run for it.

"RiRi! Wait! Don't knock the rest----" Serena's scolding had not an ounce of the same command over RiRi as Alex's, the child bouncing up on the bed and hanging Michelle's plushie on the tree--- and subsequently knocking down the rest that were so painstakingly neat and hanging.

"----down, oh well," Serena sighs the rest of the warning. On her way to rehang the fallen ornaments with an on the verge of tears RiRi, Serena feels a strong hand on her shoulder,

"Michelle and I are off again. Tell the girls to have a Merry 'Christmas' for us, would you?" Alex says looking into Serena's eyes.

Her face drops.

"Aren't you guys gonna spend Christmas with us? Oh please, please, Alex, stick around! You were going to come to my Grandma's, right?" Serena pleads, seeing so little of these two, they always off and doing their own thing.

"Amara stick around in one place for more than a day? Hardly likely," Michelle chuckles teasingly at her wild cousin's need to be free as the wind.

"Sorry, Meatball, you heard the lady. We've got something to do," Alex shrugs her shoulders in that conclusive way, Serena knowing that there was no use arguing.

"Merry Christmas, Princess, RiRi," Michelle waves a fond farewell in the doorway.

"Merry Christmas, Little Kitten," Alex lands a soft kiss on Serena's forehead. "Whatever you're doing—remember us, all right?" And with that last bit of advice and a tightly squeezed hand, Alex Sokova and her partner in life, Michelle Moreau, are off again, Serena watching the door close behind her two mysterious soldiers who always did what they pleased, with not a soul to answer to.

"Merry Christmas," she whispers sadly, wishing everyone could be together at this special time. She didn't understand why they had to be apart….especially….especially…..

……Darien….

"RiRi!" Trying to be a helpful little sprout, RiRi proves that good intent doesn't always cut the cheese. Her attempts to rehang all the "dollies" she knocked down, now sending them all to the floor as a result, tree included, RiRi herself too.

"Ohh! RiRi!" Serena races across the room to salvage what was left of their fallen fir friend. RiRi, the biggest, cutest plushie of all, was tangled in the mini tree's branches, giggling hysterically at her own funny self.

"RiRi?" And with the most innocent face, the little pip-squeak offers Serena the one plushie she had gone tea over kettle to save from falling, the black haired boy plush, with a beautiful smiling face, as if he were telling Serena to cheer up for this happy day coming.

You got it, Muffin, Serena thinks with a nod and a deep breath.

"All right, RiRi! Let's get this tree back up! And then more cookies for us both, okay?" she smiles, laughing with the little piece of fuschia sunshine with her.

"It's better this way, isn't it Amara?" Michelle reiterates what she and Amara had already discussed as the two skulk in the hallway's shadows.

"Sometimes the best way to keep a close eye is from a distance," Alex says in her deep thought provoking way.

"Yes," Michelle nods in agreement, the seriousness of the situation grave in her voice. But the Christmas spirit must hit her too, her soft strains becoming teasing.

"I did enjoy the way you handled the child, Amara. Is there some kind of motherly instinct inside you hold deep down, perhaps? Hmm?" Michelle teases in that French voice, her fingers toying at Amara's stiffened back. For she knew of her cousin's disdain for such normal, expected, and redundant things as children and motherhood not needed, not wanted-----and not even imagined for either of their dutiful lives. Their recent brief contact with baby Tara was both enlightening and pleasant, but still the thought of the real thing---and everything that had to come preceding---didn't suit either of these two independent soldiers of the New Epic at all.

"Leave me alone Michelle," Amara snaps in an annoyed voice, her eyes trained on Serena's door down the hall.

"Such a thing to say to me—of all people, Amara—on Christmas Eve too," Michelle's pouty whine is cut off by Alex's sharply tensing body. Her eyes slit ablaze with anger in that way Michelle was almost…jealous… of…that worrying boy garnering so much of my Amara's attentions of late…sigh

Michelle shrugs that jealousy off thinking more of her sweet princess and the threat that boy may prove to that sweetness. Just as in the visions, Michelle's mind reels of this child of the moon's fateful destiny as she and Alex slink into the shadows…

"Hey, Meatball! You ready to go?" Sayer Starr had this certain way of making himself noisily known. Bellowing and banging on a girl's door was not the most gentlemanly thing at 8 in the morning for a young man. But then again, Sayer was never much of a gentleman.

"Go where! Do you have to shout so loud? You'll wake everyone up!" All of a sudden ditzy Serena becomes a strict majorette, something about Sayer brought the bossy side out in her. She was usually a meek and sweet girl to most men, the only other man she ever considered a jerk with such a need to yell back at was…..

Serena quickly dismisses the comparison, dragging Sayer by the arm into her hotel room.

"Sheesh. Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the hotel bed today." Sayer pouts as Serena slams the door shut behind them. "Hey! RiRi!" Sayer leans down, offering the little girl a candy cane, from the basket on the bed.

"I did not! Civilized people just shouldn't shout in a public hallway!" Serena sticks her all-knowing nose up in the air at her classmate, in an advisory tone she was copying from her mom. She had heard it far too many times to count in her own case.

"Who was shouting? Hey, Meatball, you look cute." Sayer, at first purses his lips in a defensive look, just then noticing Serena's indeed "cute" Santa fuschia outfit.

"Uhh---don't change the subject you!" Serena feels her cheeks reddening under Sayer's intense gaze. Why do his eyes always look at me like that? Disguising her embarrassment at the outright compliment with crossed arms and a condescending attitude.

"All right." Sayer smiles, giving in to her cuteness. "What was the subject anyway?" Sayer cocks his head as he leans against the closed glass sliding doors.

"Subject? Well…" Serena puts her forefinger to her lips, she herself forgetting what she was ranting and raving about a moment ago.

"Then the subject is….I'm taking you out skiing! It's all the rage here. Come on, put on some pants and a jacket and I'll show you how." Sayer boldly offers his coaching services (even though he and a ski pole had never been formally introduced) since he was so confidence of his excelling abilities in every other sport.

"SKIING!" The chorus of four excited voices nearly knocks a Serena about to protest off her rocker. She and Sayer turn to find four peeping girls eavesdropping on their conversation from the connecting hotel door to Serena's room.

"Oh, Sayer! Is that an open invitation to four other lovely ski bunnies?" Mina bats her eyelids at the taken aback rock idol, as she nearly swoons on his arm.

"Those of us who know how to ski deserve to go more anyway." Rei poses in her already "ready-for-skiing" purple and white striped ski outfit as she considered herself an expert in the field, and Serena far less than an amateur. More like a total klutz on skis!

"Yeah, I'm rearing to brush up on my own skiing. It sure needs help." Lita, on the other hand, was painfully honest about herself, to own up to her less than spectacular ski legs.

"All right! Sounds great. You guys get changed and we'll meet you there! Just the five of you right?" Sayer was unusually suspicious today, as his eyes dart into the adjoining room the four girls just came from. His high spirits were tempered by the thought of a certain unwanted pair tagging along….

"You mean Alex and---" Mina innocently answers his danced around question.

"They've gone. Alex said they had something to do, so…." Serena sighs to her friends.

"Really?" Lita asks, she for one enjoyed their times together.

"Oh, that's too bad." Amy frowns.

"Well," Sayer seemed to be smiling brighter now, but Serena didn't notice his obvious relief. "They'll be missing all the fun. Right, gang?" He puts a relieved joyous arm around Rei & Amy's shoulders.

"Yeah!" Mina sings out happily, already planning her Christmas Eve get-up.

"Yeah! Yeah!" RiRi mimics Mina's "go-for-it" hand up in the air pose.

"Great! See ya all there! Just gotta go drag Rob out of bed now." With one final swipe at his absent and lazy "brother", Sayer is off and running again, so full of life and energy he almost takes the breath out of the group of teenage girls with his vivid zest.

"Sayer's so much fun, isn't he?" Mina, another vivacious one, finds comradeship in the boy who just left as she and the other girls hurriedly get changed.

"He's such a baby though." Rei says, with a nasty smirk, shaking off the feeling of his chummy hand on her shoulder. She for one, had never fell for his famed charms. Sayer's immaturity was just not her style.

"Oh, Rei, that's mean to say on Christmas Eve. After all, he and Terry were kind enough to bring us all the way out here, and even pay for this hotel stay." Amy had a charitable heart, although she too held Sayer with some reserve for Serena's sake.

"Terry? Hmmmm, Amy?" Lita giggles with a joke, knowing just which of the aforementioned Three Lights was Amy's personal fave, though she was rather competitive with him when it came to academic scores.

"Lita. Don't." Amy blushes cutely into her fur-trimmed scarf she was wrapping around her ski suit.

"Like you don't have a major crush on him too, Lita." Rei teases with a pinch on her taller friend's red and green trimmed arm. It was Lita's turn now to blush at the thought of the tall, chestnut haired idol and her…together….He's way dreamier than my last boyfriend. Sigh.

"Don't forget Robin! He's just too cute! Luna, you're so LUCKY to be petted by him all the time!" Mina sighs to Luna, as she pulls on her outfit's boots.

"Yes, I suppose he is cute." Luna says out loud of her favorite of the three boys, with his beautiful green eyes.

"Luna?" Artemis' cry comes from around the corner, having been eavesdropping after Rei had shooed him away. Artemis, though a cat, was still a man.

"Artemis! Are you spying on us again!" Lita yells at the cat's bad habit to peek through his kitty paws all the while they were changing.

"Me! Spying? No! I----AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! RiRi don't do that! RiRi STOP! That's my tail, not a jumping rope!" Artemis' wailing show that he was little muffin's obvious new "play toy."

"Just ignore him. He gets like that." Mina waves away Artemis' cries for help. "Serena…Sayer is SO nice to you. Mina fingers Serena's special basket of Christmas goodies on the bed. I'm jealous Robin didn't send me up anything. Sniff Sniff.

"Look at this stuff!" She devours, without even asking of course, the great big giant Santa cookie in front. "I'm glad he likes you." She decides with a fingered "V" at how good the cookie tasted.

"Likes me? What do you mean, Mina? We're just friends." Serena looks up from her quiet writing a letter to a certain-someone, and asks Mina with a defensive voice.

"Uh-huh." Mina gets that all-knowing look as she continues to chomp the snacks for her breakfast.

"We are!" Serena stands her ground.

"Yeah. Right." Mina was enjoying this tease, though Rei, Lita and Amy exchange worried looks on the delicate subject behind them.

"We are, Mina!" Serena and Mina's argument could be heard all the way out in the hallway, down the hall and into the ski lodge's lobby.

"Sooooo. Where are they?" Serena taps an impatient boot on the lodge's ski outlet, where she, Lita, Amy and Rei were all suited up, ski poles ready to go. Right now, none of them minded the roadblock anymore, for this chance of adventure and romance at the ski slopes.

"We've been waiting twenty minutes! Geez!" Rei was anxious to go speeding down the ski trails and strut her stuff. There are a lot of cute guys out there! She thinks as she and Amy survey the people coming down the mountain's path and going up in the motorized ski lift.

"Let's just go without them." Rei wasn't one to just sit and wait as she leads the girls out to where the ski lift would carry them up.

"Yeah!" Serena casts an eye around the lodge. "But I wonder where Mina, Artemis and RiRi have disappeared to? She said they'd be right back. And Artemis is with them so…he'd at least remember, right?" Serena says, more than slightly worried for her young charge. Mina was not the most suitable of baby-sitters, even in Serena's immature eyes.

"Oh, that lazy cat wouldn't remember where his tail was if it wasn't attached." Luna was always tart about her adoring feline partner, especially the recent way he seemed to believe he owned her when a silver-haired idol was concerned.

"Don't worry, Serena. Let's go have fun, okay? I'm sure they're fine." Lita squeezes her friend's shoulders, helping her put on her skis as they step out onto the snow.

"Look at that hunk coming our way! Wow! He's a great skier! Even better than the instructor inside!" A tall, helmeted skier leading in the front, who was coming towards them with perfect speed and Olympic grace, impressed Rei.

"Yes, he is very good." Amy, fond of anything to do with ice and snow, and though studying many ski manuals hard, she knew it took more than book learning to master this difficult sport.

"Great! Great!" Serena claps her gloved hands.

"That guy behind him is pretty good too. He's a little shakier looking, though. Do you think they're together? Same kind of uniform…" Lita observes that the shorter, and a bit more tentative on his skis person behind the tall, confident one had a form that wasn't quite so stylish, but at least still on his feet.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Which was more than what could be said for a third uniformed and helmeted skier. The girls caught only a short glimpse of his fateful descent down the mountain. His high pitched cry echoed across the otherwise still countryside, making it obvious now to Serena and the girls just who that person was.

"Sayer!" Serena shrieks in fear for her friend, as he tumblesaulted past his two partners, who could do nothing other than pray for his safety as he rolls past them. Rolling and rolling into a big, big, and bigger snowball, only arms, legs and flying ski poles sticking out was coming right for them….

Meanwhile, close by, sliding slowly down the hill, also in the girls' direction, a Christmas sled makes it grand entrance.

"I'm a Sweetheart of Santa Claus!"
"That great big old Santa Claus"

"Presents he is bringing just for me now!"

"I'm a Sweetheart of Santa Claus…"

Mina, "Santa Claus-ed" all the way up to her fuzzy Santa hat, sat prettily in the midst of a load of pink-sacked treasures and gifts, as little RiRi played the sleigh's driver.

Reigned out to a set of furry sled dogs, both RiRi and Mina singing with glee, sleigh bells ringing, they were unable to hear the screams and squeals of one hugely descending "avalanche" snowball named Sayer.

"Watch out!" Lita and Amy call out in unison to a waving Mina. Mina, not comprehending the danger from her vantage point, was just waving back, happy to be playing the "Sweetheart of Santa Claus", not seeing anything until it was just a moment too late.

CRASHHHHHHH!

The "Sayer" snowball comes to smashing halt---right into the sleigh. Pink ribbons and gift packages fly everywhere as the loosened sled dogs scatter all over the snowy fields. The sled was covered in snow, turned over into the banks, as the horrified girls rush over to help their fallen friends, Mina and RiRi certain to be hurt in a crash like that…

"RiRi!" Serena cries out, falling to her knees in the snow at the sled.

"Mina!" Rei and Amy dig at the snow, all of them finding the upturned sled empty.

"Here I am! Terry saved me. Isn't he a hero?" Mina's voice was full of utter "sighing-girl-in-love-adoration" from Terry rescuing her. She was being held as light as a feather in Terry Starr's strong arms, he having swooped in at the speed of a "star's" light to save this damsel in distress from an accident.

"RiRi! RiRi!" RiRi also sings of her amazing rescue, via one grumpy Robin Starr. He quickly extricates himself of the bothersome little creature, dumping her into Serena's happy arms.

"Oh, thank goodness. That was close." Amy sighs in relief.

"Are you all unharmed? Forgive Sayer, he---" Terry asks Mina as he gently puts her down, though she clings to his nice warm chest as long as possible.

"Sayer!" Serena shrieks in worry, just remembering his own danger. Racing to the clump of snow he was sticking out of, wild arms and legs spread about, ski poles jut out like some of kind large insect caught in a trap. "Sayer! Are you hurt?" Serena digs him out frantically, soon finding his head. Praying his neck wasn't broken, she yanks off the helmet, holding his limp body in her arms.

"Is that you, Meatball? I thought you were an angel." Sayer, only a bit dazed and delirious after such a fall, amazingly, was more putting on the "flirt", with his long lashed eyelids fluttering up at her in that wounded puppy look, seeking her gentle attentions.

"Heh, heh heh. Good thing you landed on your head, Sayer." Robin cackles with an evil, knowing smile.

"Really, Sayer. In such a situation, you should have taken the instructor's warnings and started on the lower slopes." Terry instinctively knew Sayer was all right, and that his dreamy, dazed expression was only a "stage show" for their girlish audience.

"Yeah, the kiddie run." Robin smirks, unable to help himself from tormenting stupid Sayer.

"Shut up, Rob." Sayer turns from wounded to vicious in a second, and gives Robin a nasty look. Then he turns to everyone as he pleads his case. "I was pushed!" He exclaims.

"Uh huh."

"Sure, you were." Lita and Rei exchange smirks at the klutziest of the Three Lights.

"I was! I was!" Sayer exclaims. Serena, finding his limp body quite animated and vital again, drops his head to the snow, and follows the others Terry was leading into the lodge for a nice warm hot cocoa break after such a harrowing moment.

"HEY!" Sayer calls after them, but the only one listening to him was one of the scattering sled dogs, giving him a big wet lick on the face. "Hey! Wait for me!" Sayer calls after them, sighing at his own unusually faulty sportsmanship when it came to the balance and control game of skiing. Well, I was pushed. I'm sure I was. And when I find the guy who did that… With a pout, he refuses to believe his overconfident self could less than excel at anything, and silently vows a threat to whoever had sent him on an unsanctimonious descent. His sift like mind forgets about that though, as he chases the Meatball headed girl he had just totally embarrassed himself in front of.

Poor Artemis was left behind again, having to dig himself out of the sacks of presents still buried in the snow. He skulks into the lodge dejected. Luna didn't even come to ask about me. She doesn't care.

And at the top of the steep snowy hillside, a dark haired woman of foreign descent (even foreign to this planet) waits for the cloud to clear, and the shadowy form of a dark crow gazes down upon the ski lodge.

After a few morning treats, Terry was always generous with his friends, and a few cups of warm cocoa in their tummies, the girls were still determined to ski, even after that poor showing. They were smart though, and took a less difficult run to start out with. A gracious Terry and a grumpy Robin accompany them there, even though Terry could master even the toughest slopes, and Robin sighs at the thought of spending the whole morning with these noisy girls. But what could he do?

Skiing just not her thing, but still Serena discovers the sad fact and she finds herself once again in the company of her other fellow amateur skier, though he wouldn't admit that before was anything more than an accident.

"Wanna take a ride on that? Looks like fun." Sayer was seeking adventure, though Serena was a little less bold as she looks up with frightened eyes at the "Big Ski Lift". It was named correctly, for a machine that size, Serena had never seen before.

"No." Serena answers honestly, shaking her head. RiRi was in her arms, mimicking the same grave face shake.

"Good. Let's go." Sayer grabs her arm, as she and RiRi are dragged along.

"Don't you ever listen to anyone?" She calls out to him, her arm being yanked out the socket almost.

"Huh?" He calls back, the noise of the huge ride, which was no more than an oversized ski lift. It was an attraction here only due to the large amount of couples wanting to have some "private" time alone here at the mountain's love ski resort. It made it hard for him to hear her.

"Sayer, maybe I shouldn't….go up there with you." Serena sees the other occupants of the descending car, where a man and a woman kissing were inside still. The two people going into the car next to them were also an obvious couple with all that hand holding and whispering in each other's ears. Darien…Did we used to be like that? Right now, for some reason, I can't remember… Serena looks confused into Sayer's deep blue eyes.

"Why not? We're friends aren't we? Besides, I think RiRi wants to go. Don't you, RiRi?" He asks, with such a warm, friendly smile that even RiRi is caught up in it. She was more excited by the balloons that one lady coming out of a car behind them held. In her little mind, there was some big, bright balloon world way up there, where the cars disappeared into the cloudy mists.

"RiRi!" She nods, jumping up and down, her excitement to go up where the balloons magically appeared.

"See? Come on, Meatball. It'll be fun." Sayer takes her hand, more gingerly, and Serena feels a genuine kindness in his softening voice.

"All right." She smiles faintly, following Sayer into the cabin. The car suddenly jerks to a start, just as the door seals them in.

"Starting already? I thought we had another five minutes." Sayer checks his watch under his white-gloved hand. It matched his red and white striped jumpsuit.

RiRi's big curious eyes gaze out of the window….up…up.

"Oh well." Sayer shrugs off the first signs of danger, thinking it must be his nerves. They always felt…strange when he was around this girl. He studies her for a few seconds, the quiet silence falling over them inside the closed compartment reminded him of that first "date" they had gone on in an elevator ride lift similar to this one, when they were completely alone. When they had spoken of that boyfriend of hers who was so cold. He was just leading her on like that, for all these months, in which Sayer had come to know her and care for her…

"Hasn't he called you for Christmas, Meatball?" Out of nowhere, Sayer can't help but delve into Serena's private matters, he was concerned now that he had come to care for someone like this. He wished he could solve all her sorrows and end those sad eyes she was staring out the window with, into the bleak whiteness of the hillside.

Sadly, Serena shakes her head. Darien was the exact subject on her depressed mind. Sayer picked it up and his face turns angry at the thought of some man ever hurting his Meatball like this. So much so I can see the tears in her eyes…Damn fool…

His mind curses that Darien of hers for so heartlessly tossing aside this sweet creature and leaving her here all alone…something he would never do…I wouldn't. Sayer's own beleaguered mind tries to imagine away all of his own serious problems, trying to think of some way to ease her pain right now---There's so much I want to tell you.

"Oh." Serena looks up in surprise to find Sayer had moved from his seat across from her to right beside her. Both his hands, with gloves removed, clasp tightly around her trembling ones.

"Look. I can't stand seeing you sad like this. You're a piece of sunshine, you know that? I want to see you smile." Sayer smiles brightly into Serena's eyes, but her tears remain. "That man you're waiting for…forget about him! You're way too good for him, you hear that? You're way too good for any of us…but…" Sayer, tender words hard to say for this man of passion, tries to gather up everything he wanted to tell her. He wanted this to be a happy Christmas Eve for her. Maybe even a happier one for him too, if he could just tell her all he feels…all he is…that's the only way.

"No, no I'm not. I'm not good. If I was, I could be stronger. But I'm so weak." The tear that falls from her eye breaks his heart as he wraps an arm around her.

"You're not weak. Look at me, I'm the weak one. I've got so much to tell you but I just can't seem to---" Sayer was just that close to telling her everything. He felt the need to, at this moment, when suddenly their car is rocked by a massive blast of energy. Metal screeching as it plunges from way up in the sky towards the snow capped ground below.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"RIRI!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Three screams fall to the snow covered valley below, echoing off the mountain, and the resulting crashing ski car tumbles over and over in a horrific scene that would have surely ended in tragedy if not for an extra helping hand.

"Wasn't that playing it a bit close, Siren! Did you want to kill your target without seeing if she holds a true Star Seed yet? You can't take it from them if they're dead already." Sailor Lead Crow's angry and exasperated voice demanded an answer from her rivalrous partner whose "tidal wave" had severed the ski cars support wire and knocked the metal transport from the sky, without a thought for the intended target on the inside.

"Oh, Crow I wasn't worried at all. I knew you'd slow its fall. It's because you had rice cakes this morning." Sailor Aluminum Siren sings out in her singsong fashion, as her spacey face turns into one ditzy smile, for Crow to huff at with a shaking head.

"What do rice cakes have to do with anything!" Crow exacerbates, waving her dark-skinned arms up and down at Siren's ditzy features.

"Well, my mummy said that rice cakes are good for you. 'They'll make you alert and strong and happy'." Siren often recited her mother's teachings, still of a little girl's mind it seemed. And from these sayings, Crow was certain this oft-spoken mother of hers was every bit the ditz her daughter now was. Sigh.

"Sometimes I wonder how you became my finest rival, Siren. Really I do." Crow shakes her head as she begins tromping through the snow towards the fallen ski car holding the intended target.

"Oh, thank you so much Crow! You're so nice to me, aren't you? Oh, dear my stockings are becoming soggy? What will I do?" Siren's floating mind misunderstood, as usual, Crow's swipe as a compliment. Now, drifting to complaints of snow and cold weather and her frozen feet, they walk along towards the crashed compartment, half buried in the snowed in valley below.

Darien…I'm so cold…hold me tighter…Serena's fuzzy mind comes to in a blur. The feel of Darien's warm arms around her was slowly bringing her back to reality, she wishing she didn't have to wake up and leave his embrace a moment before she realizes—

It was not Darien's strong arms holding her so tightly.

"Sayer?" Serena whispers, the utter silence around her scaring her into a fearful whisper into the ear of the man who was protectively holding her to his chest.

"Ugh….Meatball?…uh….." Sayer ignores the scrapes and scratches on his bruised back as he took the brunt of the impact, quickly, in a split second, grabbing Serena and RiRi as the car descended.

"Are you okay?" Danger all around, his senses flare, and Sayer withstands the pain as he rights the three of them up from the corner side window of the overturned ski car they were squished against.

"I'm fine, are you---? Serena touches the bleeding through his no longer white ripped suit arm and back with concern, as Sayer grits his teeth with a manful smile.

"I'm all right, just a few scrat---where's---" Sayer jumps up, despite the pain, his eyes frantically searching the vehicle.

"RiRi!" Serena finishes his thought in panic, looking everywhere for the little girl she was certain was wrapped tight in their arms as they were falling. But where is she now!

"She must've crawled through this hole while we were out! Look I can see her footprints in the snow moving away!" Sayer ducks down to where a small hole in the fallen side of the crushed car, just big enough for a RiRi to slip through, was leading with the evidence of her departing little pawprints in the white snow.

"Oh RiRi! Get me outta here, Sayer! I've gotta find her! It's too cold for her to be out there alone!" Serena cries out in worry, tugging at Sayer's arm. But the hole RiRi had escaped from was far too small for either of them to pass through the twisted metal opening. And as Sayer soon discovers, the usually automated doors were still firmly shut in place, warped so badly that even a powerful well exercised leg kick up could not budge the on their side metal doors. But he wasn't the giving up type, Sayer wedging himself up there in the long shot attempt at knocking the doors open, using all his strength…but to no avail…

Oh RiRi! Serena clenches her fists in frantic worry for the missing child. Looking out the shattered cracked window (that was unfortunately made of that Plexiglas sort of substance, it just as tough as the metal seemed.) and praying for RiRi to come over the snow bank and be giggling at her silly "sister" stuck inside here 'til help arrives. But instead, Serena sees someone else entirely, someone unwelcome.

"Sayer! We gotta get out of here now! Someone's coming!" Serena calls to him, her panic now doubled at the sight of those bad sailors attacking so many innocents of late.

"Oh, Good! Maybe they can get us out of ---" Sayer's relief that help had arrived (he not a man who "needed" help, but where RiRi's safety was concerned, maybe a tiny bit of extra help wouldn't be such a bad idea. Relieved, Sayer was just on the verge of revealing just who he was to Serena, breaking his sworn secret and transform into one Sailor Star Fighter and simply laser his way out of this tin can, but now that wouldn't be necessary…

"Oh, we'll get you out all right," Sailor Lead Crow bursts open a hole in the doors with a powerful blast of energy. The impact rocks Sayer and Serena to the floor of their entrapment, helplessly looking up to see Crow's imposing form glaring down at them.

"Here's you chance now Siren! I made it easy for you! Don't blow it! You can't miss! Like shooting fish in a barrel!" Crow calls out to her partner (chivalrous enough to let Siren take the Star Seed, even if I'm doing all the hard work!)

"Oh, Crow! Don't speak of fish that way! I know some of them and they're very friendly---" Siren's whine is cut off even as she raises her golden bracelets to the air aimed at Serena. Just then a pair of strong hands grabs one of each of hers and Crow's legs, crashing their bodies together, and these two minions of Galaxia plummet backwards to the ground from atop the car in a heap.

"Who're you calling fish, Crow-face! Meatball get outta here! Go find RiRi fast! I'll take care of these freaks!" Athletically swinging himself up (for Sayer Starr had seen more than his share of being able to pull himself out of scrapes) Sayer yanks Serena out of the compartment as well through the blasted hole on top Crow had opened. He lowers her to the ground without giving her a chance to say a word.

"But Sayer! They're too---!" Serena knows just how powerful these two are, that it would take more than a brave boy to stand up to them--- that a Sailor Soldier was needed to fight energy with energy. Serena's palm clutches her transform brooch ever pinned close to her heart under that ski jacket.

"Hurry! Go! RiRi needs you! She's just a little kid! I'll be fine!" the desperate panic in Sayer's voice reminds Serena of her own worry for the missing little girl she was in charge of keeping safe. Her decision was a hard one to make in the split second required…

His tone commanding, like he needed for her to go away, Serena in that second decides to do as told, find RiRi as quick as she could and then return as Sailor Moon, and just pray that Sayer would still be okay by the time she got back. I can't waste another second!

"All right! I'll get help!" Serena calls out as she runs as fast as her skinny legs would take her, not looking back once, her eyes glued to searching for a little fuschia spot on the white horizon.

And the moment she's out of sight, Sayer Starr reaches inside his jacket pocket, a feathered emblem and mike about to appear in his hand.

"Don't move," hot tempered Lead Crow growls up about to show her wrath at being humiliatingly felled by a mere human, as she scrambles to her feet, raising a blasting hand towards the man atop the fallen ski car.

"Crow? Excuse me, Crow-san? That's polite in this country, isn't it?" Siren dusts herself off from the snowbank she and Crow were plunged into headfirst "Crow-san?" Siren tugs at Crow's arm.

"What now? I'm about to punish this human, Siren! What do you want!" she screeches in anger.

"Crow-san, I think our target got away. Oh dear," Siren sighs peering into the shattered glass to find Serena missing. And she's Sailor Moon too, oh dear, what shall I do? Siren's brainless priorities don't see too much of the importance of that fact, just another disappointing turn of events. Oh, and I did so want to be rid of Sailor Moon for you today, Madame Galaxia. That would make you very happy, wouldn't it? Maybe then she'll even come to have a nice cup of tea with me, Siren's mind wanders.

"What! Which direction did she go!" Crow, on the other hand, knew exactly where priorities lie, her anger at this human boy not as important as finding a true star seed. (though right now, Crow was beginning to doubt Siren's accuracy in this girl—she didn't seem anything special at all, and knowing Siren…) For Crow herself was still unaware that this meatballheaded blonde was Sailor Moon's alter ego, Siren just not deeming it important enough to inform her yet.

"I am sorry Crow-san, I wasn't looking. I lost my seashell in the snow. Have you seen it?" Siren's eyes were busily scanning the ground, Crow grunting as she rolls her eyes at her.

"Where'd he go now! Damn it Siren! Why did you stop me!" Crow angrily looks on top of the car, that bothersome dark haired boy now too disappearing.

"Crow-san you don't have to swear, See I found my choker—" Siren just clips her brooch back on when another clicking sound comes, like the snapping of fingers…

"Penetrating the evil darkness of night,"

"An air of freedom breaks through!"

"We are the three sacred shooting stars!"

"Sailor Star Fighter!"

"Sailor Star Maker!"

"Sailor Star Healer!

"Sailor Starlights! Stage On!

In that moment of Crow's inattention, on top of the fallen ski car in place of that black curled young man were three Sailor Soldiers—those black leather-clad pain in the blank, Sailor Starlights were standing there posing with a starfield sky behind them.

"Star Gentle Uterus!" Sailor of the star Maker calls out, the acid broiling towards where Lead Crow and Aluminum Siren were standing.

"C'mon Siren! We've got another job to finish first!" Seeing no need to beat these three bugs into the ground, (another time, definitely) Crow grabs Siren and the two of them speedily zap away into their shared telephone booth as Maker's acid attack sizzles the ground where they stood, leaving bare scorched earth in its wake.

"Fighter are you-----?" Maker turns to where Fighter was standing between them, both Maker and Healer seeing the accident in the distant and quickly coming to aid their fallen comrade.

"You heard them! They're after her!" Fighter ignores Maker's concern, already taking off in the direction Serena had disappeared into the snowcapped forest.

"All this trouble over that silly girl? Fighter, we're only looking for the Princess, remember?" Healer had a cold streak that made this star dislike humans naturally and not understanding Fighter and Maker's want to always help them.

"You cold ---" Fighter swears racing off, with a temper to match those intense passions.

"Fighter's right, Healer. We have to protect the innocents of this world as well. It's what the Princess would want isn't it?" Maker spells it out in more logical terms to Healer, chasing after Fighter.

Oh well, Healer sigh with a slight smirk, taking off after the two.

"Come… Come to me… Almost here now… a voice whistles through the cold air and a little girl pitter patters towards it, entranced by the high strains and musical lilt that was ringing through her tiny ears bell-like through the icy snows.

"RiRi?" the word echoes inside the cavern opening that the voice has led this child to. The frightened question on her cold lips, RiRi almost turns and runs from the dark ice-filled cave, its dense eerieness, crooked hanging stalagtites dripping with ice daggers. The utter silence within would be frightening to any child and this tiny angel of wonderment was no exception to that rule.

"Yes child… Come… it has been a very long time… and I am lonely…." This high voice spins a sad tale, cooing invitingly. Sweethearted RiRi has not an ounce of suspicion in her body or a bone of reason within her it now seemed. Hearing only the sad forlorn voice and the loneliness in it, she shuffles slowly into the cavern---- for RiRi didn't like for people to feel alone, even total strangers.

But today her childlike goodness was her downfall, the golden glow, dazzling as it is beautiful against the dank cavern wall, captivated RiRi as it sparkles to her through the cave, the golden gleam of Galactic proportions familiar to RiRi's faintly aware mind and yet not…

"So you have finally come to me… my Sister…" The golden woman RiRi so good-naturedly waddled to changes the pasted inviting smile to a smirking ugly frown, frightening the little girl as the perfect gleaming white teeth become fanged and her golden beauty transforms to deathly black, her hair now a flaming shade of red.

"RiRi!" the sense of fear now in her tiny form, RiRi turns to flee, but her little stout legs had not the speed they needed to escaped a sharp long-nailed hand.

"You cannot escape me! As clear as this cold ice you have ensnared me I can sense you within this frail body. You can't hide from me anymore! You can no longer deny me my heritage!" her voice transforms into a screech from the depths of hell itself, this shadowy form of a woman grasps hold of RiRi's chubby arm, yanking the screaming child back ruthlessly.

"Millions of light years I have crossed in search of you. Ages of time have passed without even a glimpse of light within me. All you have stolen, all you have taken from me, I will rip from you now, tear you apart as you have left me, this forgotten worthless wretch of a shadow,. I have only sustained myself through sheer force of will. For that was something you could not strip away from me, my Sister. You who always believed yourself so perfect and pure. You would not dare to face my ugliness… in your cruel vanity…

The eons of torment come spilling out in a barrage of threats and despised remembrances of a past unforgotten, a stripped life unforgiven as the memories of what once was flashes mercilessly…

On the grassy knolls of an amber gold planet, the tall flowers sway to and fro on the breeze, their golden splendor almost masking the same hued long hair descending in endless waves from a young girl's head. She lies in the field basking in the sunlight, the sweet scent of the long sun-gold flowers surrounding her, and the soft winds touch her flawless cheek, her low melodic voice humming a tune to the bees, she without a care in the world.

"There you are Galaxia! Did you think you could hide from me here?" a high voice cries out with the same inflections as the lower one humming. A bit annoyed that she was the dutiful one who was left with the meetings and royal household responsibilities, whilst her rebellious twin sister dawdles in the flower gardens.

" Of course not Battress! I was just admiring the golden blooms you had planted here and---" the beautiful golden haired girl sits up with a smile warm for her beloved sister, her large eyes catching the sunlight in that dazzling way, glinting on her twin sister with overwhelming shine.

For twins they were, exact duplicates (though responsible Battress piled her shocks of golden waves upon her head in an older, more pinched look, carefree Galaxia letting the waves roll down unchecked and flowing free) save for their outlooks on life itself. Battress saw life as an endless stream of things to do, for a Princess' tasks were never complete duty by far the most important part of each day. Galaxia on the other hand, believed in the sheer joys of life. Running wild barefoot through the soft blades of grass; singing of dreams and romance to the night sky; and a sun that never sets, reveling in its golden glow with not a though on her mind but for what adventure she may tumble into next.

Shaking her head at her headstrong sister, Battress puts her hands on her angry hips.

"You leave me all the duties, Galaxia, while you're out here playing! Really!" Battress huffs with a frown down at her carefree sibling. Galaxia was usually full of endless apologies and excuses and yet this time-----

"Well, why not Battress? I can do what I want. You're just a worthless shadow of me. I am the favored child you know." Galaxia's sweetly innocent face turns nasty, Battress taken aback by the sudden change of demeanor as if a shadow fell over Galaxia's lovely face.

But it was true. It was all true. Galaxia was mother's favorite. Galaxia was the princess everyone liked better. Galaxia had the beauty and charm while she, Battress, only had the brains. And what good were they when a princess' duty was just to stand there and look pretty? ("Nobody knows of the true duties of a princess except for me." Battress would repeat to her depraved mind over and over). And though the two were born exact twins, Battress always knew herself to be considered the lesser one. She was not as pretty or personable as her outgoing sister, she was a mere shadow of Galaxia's golden glow.

Standing in the field, suddenly the summer scene turns into a dead and barren battlefield, their beautiful golden planet nearly obliterated to dust and lifelessness. The flowing summery frock Galaxia was wearing a moment before transforms into a battle uniform, the golden armored soldier outfit that was her inheritance as a soldier warrior----Sailor Galaxia. Her hair was now up and in that tight crown-like setting, her eyes slitted in a heartless smile. Galaxia raises her golden sword over Battress' head, and mercilessly runs her sister through with not a word nor explanation save for the whispered phrase in her ear which has haunted what was left of Battress' soul for a millennia since that fateful day…

"For the greater purpose, Sister, let me take your soul…" and with those mysterious words echoing through her, Battress lets herself once again slip into the shadow realm she was in that moment absorbed into. With a vow of revenge one-day upon she who had stolen who she was away, Battress was determined to retrieve what she had lost, and that meant destroying Galaxia in the process too.

"RiRi!" the frantic screaming and squiggling of the little girl clenched tightly in her arms rings this dark Galaxia back to reality, the words she has longed to say to her despised sister for countless tortured eons was hissing from Battress' lips.

"Now Sister, allow me to take your soul---- to oblivion!" The coal black mists surrounding Battress swirl around her grasping hand, the sheer force within her shadow form now willing a blade of pure black evilness to materialize in her clenched fist.

"A sword for a sword," Battress raises the weapon high above RiRi's tiny body, pinning her against the cavern wall with one amazingly strong arm. All the screaming and squirming of RiRi's small form would have not a hope of survival against such a crazed with anger foe---

But hope was always just around the corner.

"Put her down! RiRi!" Serena Hart felt herself somehow led to this particular cavern, she racing through the ice and snow at a frantic pace to find her little friend. And now she finds RiRi in the clutches of this strange and dark monster reminding her of some eerie phantom from a horror movie that frightened her so as a child that she wants to turn and run. But with that past fear comes a future of responsibilities and a heart full of love and justice that could never see any of her beloveds in danger.

"Let her go Monster!" And with a courage (not to mention some good aim that Luna's training had pounded into a clutzy girl) Serena, the girl who once thought herself too weak and clumsy for anything, grabs hold of a big rock from the cavern floor. She pretends it was her tiara, and zings it with as much precision and force as her thin arm could muster---

And it would have been a precise hit, one to chalk down in the record books hitting the monster plainly on the arm grasping RiRi and yet----

The stone passes right through her.

"What? How can this be!" Serena gasps as the rock falls clattering to the ground.

"Ha Ha Ha! See, my Sister, there are some advantages to this decrepit form you have abandoned me to." Battress cackles, does not seem to even take notice of the young girl begging for her to stop her deadly campaign.

"Why have you chosen this weakest of weak forms? Once again you have proven to me, Sister, that I possess far more of the intellect you lack," absorbed in her self, Battress does not seem to notice or care about Serena's brave charging down upon her. For Serena would do anything to save another's life --- even if it meant the cost of her own….

"Neptune Submarine Reflection!"

From somewhere behind Serena a flash of aqua light streams in, it's sparkle gleams throughout the cavern as its glimmer strikes Battress, she shrinking back from it, dropping RiRi to the ground.

"That energy! It is not of this world!" Battress cries out, shrinking back deeper into the cave.

"Wherever evil presence makes itself known, my mirror of visions will expose it!" Serena turns to see two familiar figures standing back to back silhouetted against the blinding white snowscape behind them.

"Lured by the New Epic! Soldier of the deep waters! I am Sailor Neptune!

Indeed an elegant creature of beauty, the aqua skirted Sailor announces herself to the enemy.

"Likewise, Lured by the New Epic! Soldier of the wild winds! Sailor Uranus!

Neptune's partner calls out, her low voice resounding throughout the cavern.

Both were standing there threateningly, their arms crossed in a no-nonsense pose—well, almost.

"I hope you don't mind I took your intro, cous'. But things are a little more interesting upside down sometimes, don't you think?" Neptune teases in a sideways glance to Uranus.

"Very," comes Uranus' amused reply with an embarrassed smirk as she raises her arm to the sky.

"Uranus Space Sword Blaster!"

Uranus calls out, her invisible gleaming sword appearing in her hand, slicing a yellow blaze of light across the dark cavern.

"RiRi come here!" Serena beckons to the scared child as Uranus' sword takes the enemy's attention. RiRi begins waddling to Serena as fast as she can--- but not fast enough.

Though momentarily weakened by Neptune's Submarine Reflection, Battress didn't travel light years and eons to be stopped so easily, she raising her own shadow sword and absorbing Uranus' light energy into its ebony.

"As you can see, light is so quickly drowned out by the darkness! I will have my revenge!" And with that Battress' witchlike hand clutches in the thin air, and the cavern's shadows mimic her movements, coming to life and grabbing hold of the four girls. It then drags RiRi's little body back to Battress then both disappearing even further back into the cave leaving Serena, Uranus and Neptune captured and helpless, shadows tearing at their bodies.

"RiRi!" Serena cries in panic as the child's whimpering could be heard moving further and further away.

"Dammit! Neptune, who is that!" frustrated, Uranus swears, demanding the answer to her angry question as she struggles furiously with the shadows grasping her.

"A shadow creature filled with rage and vengeance. But what does she want with the child?" Neptune raises some frustrated questions of her own.

"I don't know! Oh RiRi!" Serena closes her eyes, feeling that warmth that little girl added to hers, praying for it to always be with her.

"Moon Eternal Power!

Serena cries out, her hand clutching that winged brooch inside her jacket and holding onto it tight despite the shadows grabbing at her and trying to snatch it away.

"Makeup!"

White light, feathers aflutter and radiant shimmering transform this simple young girl known as Serena Hart, into the winged Soldier of Love and Justice called Sailor Moon.

Her Eternal form dazzles in the darkness obliterating the dark shadows holding them captive.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"

With one swipe of her powerful Moon Tiel, Eternal Sailor Moon sets Uranus and Neptune free of the shadows threatening to engulf them. All three, without a single word, then take off in the direction RiRi was dragged to.

"Crow-san, Crow-san… Did you see it?" Sailor Aluminum Siren tugs at Lead Crow's red-orangy sleeves, pointing in the direction of the cavern that light just exploded from.

"Yes, I saw it, Siren. That was Eternal Sailor Moon's energy signal, wasn't it?" Crow asks her quick mind analyzing the energy flash.

"Hmm? Sailor Moon? What? Where?" Siren looks around confusedly around at the mention of the name getting her into so much bother.

"C'mon Siren! Sailor Moon might have stolen our star seed from that girl you targeted! We can't let that happen!" Crow feared Madame Galaxia's wrath for her friend more than the loss of one star seed.

"Yes, Crow-san but that would be very hard for her to do, I think, since Sailor Moon really is----" Siren's dawdling voice slowly is about to reveal something very important to Crow.

----"Sailor Moon is a difficult opponent to defeat! But if we destroy her this time perhaps Madame Galaxia will forgive your past failures. We'll definitely defeat her this time!" Crow talks over Siren's babbling with these determined assurances.

"Whatever you say Crow-san," Siren shrugs as her rival drags her away towards the cave in question.

Three pairs of high-heeled feet echo as the pound through the cave, their eyes straining through the darkness in search of one tiny little girl and her evil monster of a captor.

"This creature! It's as if she is nothing more than a shadow, no soul to read!" our empathic scout vents her frustrated attempts to reach through the cave and find RiRi and the monster. Neptune analyzes her brief psi scan on the shadow creature but comes up with no clear picture, just a faint distant knowledge that this monster was part of a far greater enemy, one she thought she once glimpsed in a nightmare as if through another's eyes. Whatever that means, Michelle, take hold of yourself, Neptune chides her wandering thoughts. But visions and thoughts meant everything to her, and beyond the nightmare, she often wondered of the dreamer.

"There!" Uranus' eagle eyes were first to spot the kidnapper and her prey. The evil woman, to Sailor Moon's horror was standing bent over RiRi' held down form, the shadow sword in her hand readied to slice the child asunder and yet the attacker seemed frozen in place, her eyes dilated and frightened—as if she had seen a ghost. It was then that RiRi seems to explode in pink fuschia beams of light.

"Battress! Please remember me as I was! I am your sister! I only did what I had to because… because… I loved you then! As I still love you now! No matter what! That sweet longhaired Galaxia of erefore cries out to Battress' tortured mind, the warmth her shadow heart had not glimpsed for eons taking her aback by the plea.

"Go away! Die! Leave me be! You can't fool me again!" Battress' bloodshot eyes flash back to reality again, so filled with vengeance she prepares to go through with RiRi bitter end despite the pleas.

"Uranus World Shaking!"

She sends a blast of energy towards Battress, the rise and fall of her earthquaking blast shaking the cavern's unsteady insides, stalagtites falling like deadly spears around them. Battress laughs at their sorry attempts, she putting up a shadow forcefield around herself.

"Uranus world-----"

Hot-tempered Uranus starts to repeat the attack, determined to wipe that laugh off Battress' ugly face.

"Do you wanna kill that kid!" another voice enters the cave from behind them, boldly grabbing Uranus' arm to stop her quaking attack and sending a more exacting one in Battress' direction.

"Star Serious Laser!"

The precise laser beam cuts through her shadow field and knocks the sword from her hand just as she was about to do RiRi in. Sailor Star Maker, seeing Fighter's in, swoops down and grabs poor RiRi racing back with her before Battress could do a thing.

"Come on! Let's go! The cave's collapsing!" Sailor Moon gratefully takes the child from Maker, they hustling out before the entire cave collapses, Battress' anger evident from the walls reverberating with shadows reaching out and trying to keep them in the disintegrating cavern.

"C'mon let's go!" Fighter repeats to Uranus, but she seemed not that prepared to leave until she gets one final shot at the evil demon sending her shadow minions after the rest of her team.

"Uranus! There's nothing more you can do here! Let's go!" Fighter reiterates grabbing her arm again, preparing to beat it after the other scouts departing down the cavern corridor.

"Let GO of ME!" she bitingly yells at this leatherclad troublemaker, shaking her arm off. "Why do you care about all this anyway! This is our affair, so stay out next time! It's none of your concern!" Uranus berates right into Fighter's smug face. There was something about this mysterious new soldier in particular that put her on edge--- and she didn't like it.

"Well it looks like I care a little more than you! Didn't think your earthquake would bring the house down, huh?" Fighter swipes.

"Shut Up! We didn't ask for your help!" Uranus stands toe to toe with Fighter they still arguing even as rubble from the cavern ceiling starts falling all around them.

"You sure needed it!" Eyes flash in anger, neither seeming to notice the world coming down around them, no one ever quite maddening them as much as each other did.

"We did not---" Uranus was the most stubborn person alive (but Fighter here seemed competition for that he not backing down either, rocks crashing to the floor at their feet, just missing).

"Time to go, Uranus!" Neptune comes racing back in, sensing the argument her partner was having was not in any hurry to break up (which couldn't be said for the cave) so she whisks her tall companion's arm and leads her quickly away. Fighter takes off after them just in time for that end of the cave to totally collapse behind them.

"Star Gentle Uterus!"

"Maker fends off the attacking shadows crawling off the walls leeching towards them even as they ran.

"Star Sensitive Inferno!"

Surprising both her partners, Healer rescues both the bothersome Sailor Moon and the whimpering child from a collapsing tunnel (physically!).

"You won't escape me! This is the end!" The creature's high shrill voice emanates from every shadow stalking the remains of the cavern. A sudden burst of the shadow's entire energies crush what was left of the supporting cavern walls, they coming crashing down on our group of Sailors. Just when there was light at the end of the tunnel, it fades again from view in the deadly shadows….