Chapter 7: Serena's Decision

"Popsicle Prism Power, Make Up!"

"Peppermint Power, Make Up!"

"Cookie Prism Power, Make Up!" Rainbow, Galaxy, and Pierre transformed to fight Wedding Peach, who had attacked at their house again, but Serena, though she was in the same room and could tell there was a battle beginning, did not join them.

"Stop it! Please, Wedding Peach! It isn't like you to attack people!" she pleaded tearfully, stepping in front of the other Senshi to protect both sides.

"Don't tell me how I am! Get out of the way so I can purify that boy of his evil love waves," she ordered.

"Serena, remember what happened with the Magic Knights? If we kill Wedding Peach, she'll go back to her world and be freed from Sailor Nemesis's control," Rainbow reminded her.

"I refuse! I don't want to fight the Love Angels!" Serena protested.

"Would you like to join us, then? Power of love..."

"Shabon Spray!" Sailor Popsicle suddenly called, interrupting Wedding Peach's attack by creating a fog in the room so she couldn't see Serena to convert her. While Wedding Peach groped around for her target, Sailor Peppermint and Sailor Cookie shoved Serena out of the way.

"Paper Cut Slash!"

"Supreme Thunder!" The two attacks hit Wedding Peach, knocking her out. She vanished in a puff of red sparkles as the fog faded. Haruka and Michiru appeared at the doorway, glaring at Serena.

"What kind of Sailor Senshi are you? You're not supposed to protect the enemy from your teammates!" Haruka scolded.

"They're not enemies! I just can't accept that!" sobbed Serena.

"If they aren't, then why was she trying to 'purify' me of loving boys instead of girls?" Pierre retorted.

"They can't be evil! When Yuri was at the mall, she didn't want to attack me because I was her fan," Serena pointed out.

"She didn't attack you because she wants you to join them. It's just a trick. You don't really agree with them, do you? Fighting people for being homosexual is just a really stupid and unladylike way to show your allegiance to marriage," Galaxy pointed out.

"And it doesn't matter. It is your duty as a Sailor Senshi to fight them, no matter what your personal feelings are," added Haruka.

"You are such a selfish hypocrite! When you were at the Marine Cathedral, you gave up on your mission just because Michiru's heart crystal had been taken out! Giving the job of finding the third talisman to Usagi, who wouldn't have been able to make the sacrifices, was going against your mission! You are so cold to everyone else except Michiru!" Serena suddenly accused, turning on Haruka.

"Excuse me! How exactly do you know about that, being from Scotland?" Haruka challenged; Serena had hit a nerve with her.

"Because I've always wanted to be a Sailor Senshi! I know almost everything about your history! But it's not worth it if I have to fight Wedding Peach and her friends!" Serena cried.

"Please don't join them, Serena. If you leave, then all I'll have is Michiru. I've always thought you were cute and feminine, and I don't want the only girl who understands me in this house to be a lesbian," pleaded Galaxy.

"Who's the hypocrite now?" snapped Rainbow.

"You stay out of this! You're going to drive Serena away with your cold-hearted demands that she do her duty!" Galaxy shouted.

"I need to leave. I need to see the Love Angels. Perhaps I can convince them to not attack us anymore," Serena said, trying to smile through her tears.

"I should at least come with you. So they don't turn you evil like I heard they did to Mozzarella," Galaxy replied.

"No. This is something I need to do on my own. And they're not evil. I don't want you coming and hurting them. Goodbye, Galaxy, no thanks to you, Haruka the hypocrite," Serena said, her last words tinged with bitterness as she left the house. Once outside, however, her resolve began to fade as she realized she didn't know where the Love Angels lived. Maybe I should've set up a meeting place first, she thought sadly. Unknown to her, Yuri was watching her at that moment from behind a set of bushes. Since Momoko had been knocked out, Yuri had taken it on herself to convert Serena. She was determined to make sure she would catch the girl alone, and not surrounded by the other Sailor Senshi, as that had been Momoko's downfall. As Serena passed by, she noticed a familiar swishing of brown hair. She peeked around the bush and spotted Yuri.

"Hello, Serena. I met you at the mall that day," Yuri said quietly.

"Yeah! I'm a big fan! Um, please don't attack the Sailor Senshi anymore. We're not evil, and neither are gay people. They're just people who happen to love the same gender as themselves, that's all," Serena blurted out. Yuri's eyes darkened.

"I don't think you quite believe that. You were quite loud; I could hear you yelling at Haruka. You know, it was the fault of her loving Michiru that she broke with her mission and was a hypocrite."

"That still wouldn't have mattered if Michiru was a man. She still might've done the same thing. Love is love," Serena responded, confused.

"You don't want to fight us, yet you still disagree on one of our most sacred tenements. Please make up your mind," Yuri said sternly.

"I can't! I don't want to fight you, but I don't want to fight the other Senshi! That's wrong! And I..." Yuri put her finger over Serena's mouth, silencing her.

"Stop lying to yourself. Haruka wouldn't be such an evil, unfeminine girl if she had loved a man." Serena gasped. Was that true? Galaxy had said something like that before, too. Would being heterosexual have made Haruka into a different person, made her kinder? She didn't want to at first, but the more she thought about it, the more Serena decided that she hated Haruka and Michiru. All that time, they kept saying "Make sacrifices, it's your duty," but what did they do? They always betrayed their comrades and their mission for each other. First, that time at the Marine Cathedral. The other time Serena remembered was the tale that Neo-Queen Serenity had told about at that big Sailor Senshi meeting that fateful day when everyone got sent to those different video game dimensions. That time, Haruka and Michiru had betrayed everyone, even Pluto and Saturn, to join Galaxia, just so that they could be together. At least, that was how Serena saw it. She turned back to Yuri, a fierce glint in her chocolate eyes.

"I'll do it. I'll join you. Since I don't want to fight you, I can't be a Sailor Senshi, and then what else? I'd like to stay with your group, my favorite anime characters," Serena declared.

"You've made the right choice. Power of love, turn her into a Love Angel!" Yuri called, and a beam of blue light hit Serena. A black aura surrounded her, and when it had disappeared, she was in a Love Angel outfit that was black.

"I am...Angel Rose." Yes, that fit, Serena thought. Inside, Galaxy peeked out the window to see how Serena was doing, and she screamed.

"She...that traitor! She's no better than she says Michiru and I were!" Haruka roared. Galaxy headed for the door to stop her, but then paused.

"It won't bring her back, will it?"

"I don't think so. Serena, it seems, WANTED to join the Love Angels on her own will. So she'll take a lot of convincing," Rainbow replied. The newly-named Angel Rose, as expected, was quite happy with her new transformation.

"YAY! I get to join the Love Angels! Please, please show me where your meeting place is!" she giggled, dancing around Yuri in eager circles. Yuri smiled back.

"Of course. Just come with me," she agreed. The two of them walked off together. Back inside, Michiru, who had heard the news, had thought of something.

"Is Serena going to keep going back to school now? Because I heard from Small Lady that Mozzarella hasn't been seen there since she joined the Love Angels' group," she said.

"Maybe, maybe not. I hope she does, though, because then I can find her and convince her to come back to being a Sailor Senshi," Galaxy answered. Pierre suddenly began giggling.

"Maybe she's just tricking the Love Angels and she's going to break down their group from the inside," he suggested.

"I don't think she'd do that. Convincing her to come back will be harder with her than Mozzarella," Rainbow countered.