Hello everyone! Thank you in advanced for reading this chapter of Homicide. I hope you are enjoying and please refer to my notes at the end of this chapter. One of my reviewers mentioned that Mina should be the leader of the team and referred to the manga. If you don't already know, this story takes place before Mina is introduced and is based off of the anime. Now please, please review…I'm on my knees and would really appreciate it. On with the story.
Homicide: The Death of Serena
A story by Crystaldove
Chapter 3
5:02 p.m.
"Ken there is someone at the door."
"Serena? Oh it's just you Luna. You haven't seen Serena have you? Oh I wish you could talk."
'Serena's not here…that's strange especially since she is grounded. She is probably with the others, no she resigned last night…well maybe they convinced her to come back, yeah that's it!' Luna thought.
knock-knock
"Mrs. Tsukino?"
"Yes"
"I'm Officer Weldon with the Juuban District Police. I'm here to file the report on your daughter."
"My Serena…she ran away."
'Serena ran away…I guess I was too hard on her'
"How long has she been gone?"
"I last saw her around 7:30 last night. My husband went to check on her about 9:15 and she wasn't in her room. I grounded her last night, I guess rather severely…she has problems in school with her grades…I um just got tired of her failing all the time. We thought that she went to stay with a friend, but she wasn't in school today…"
ring-ring
"Hello, yeah Amy she's here hold on. Mom, Amy is on the phone!"
"Amy, you haven't seen her either…Molly told you what happened. Ok, an officer is here now. That would be fine, thank you…goodbye."
"Have they seen her mom?"
"No Sammy they haven't. I'm sorry about the interruption Officer Weldon. That was one of my daughters' friends. They don't know where she is."
Crown Arcade
"I'm going to call Serena's mom."
"Ok Amy"
"Hello Sammy, this is Amy. Is your mother there?"
Mom, Amy is on the phone
"Mrs. Tsukino we haven't seen Serena since school yesterday. Molly told us what happened. Have you called the police? Can we come over; we would love to help you look for her? No problem, goodbye."
"Have they found her Amy?"
"No Lita, the police just got there, I told her we would help them search."
"Why are you all upset, she is probably hiding out somewhere, just playing hooky from school…embarrassed to go back…"
"Raye do you ever 'SHUT UP'!" screamed Darien "Even I know when to quit! I may tease her for fun but I think you 'enjoy' making her cry. She is missing, something really bad must have happened for her to do that and you sit her like nothing is wrong. You are still picking out her faults. That doesn't stop her from having a lot of friends. Frankly how many friends do you have, better yet, how many did you have 'before' you met Serena. You told me that she introduced you to Amy and Lita. No matter how rotten I am to her, she always has a kind heart, a dazzling smile and will stop at nothing to help a friend in need. Unlike you who lies to make her friends jealous!"
Everyone stood in complete amazement. Not only did Darien defend Serena, but he also set Raye straight for a second time. Andrew knew that Darien had a thing for Serena and this proved it. He also had an idea that Darien 'dated' Raye just so he could have an excuse to be closer to Serena. Raye still kept the mask of pure innocence; she hadn't done anything except speak the truth and couldn't believe that Darien said those things about her.
"How can you say that after all we've been through?"
"Damn, will you wake up! We haven't been through anything. You know nothing about me! Even with all that's going on, you still aren't satisfied unless you come first. I'd leave too if I was Serena…I don't see how she put up with your mouth this long! I don't see how 'I' put up with your mouth this long. Why did I hang out with you? You are the most self-centered, egotistical, envious, cruel and unjust person I have ever met. And where was I last night? AVOIDING YOU!
'Gosh, he's taking her disappearance hard, but he is right. All Raye thinks about is herself. If she weren't a scout, would we be friends?' Amy thought.
"How dare you?"
"He's right Raye."
"Amy, you are supposed to be my friend, how can you say that?"
"Because I am your friend, I can tell you that you have only been thinking about yourself. Lately, every time we mention Serena, you find a way to ridicule her and draw attention back to yourself. You said that you wished she wasn't in your life…well you may have gotten your wish!" Amy said with tears running down her face.
"Hey guys, I didn't mean it like that…"
"Whatever Raye, Lita I'm going to Serena's can you go?"
"Yeah" looking at Raye, Lita finished "My 'friend' needs me right now."
"Amy"
"Yeah Darien?"
"Do you mind if I tag along. I want to help you search. I saw her last night, maybe I can be of assistance."
"Sure, lets go."
Amy, Lita and Darien bid farewell to Andrew and headed to Serena's. Raye was left dumbstruck.
'Darien defended Meatball head and said all of those mean things to me. How could he? I know this is just some ploy for sympathy Serena has concocted and…' Raye was taken out of her thought by Andrew.
"Let it go Raye, Darien's right you're not concerned in the least about Serena. I would think that you are 'glad' that she's missing."
"How could he have done that? I'm the prettiest girl at my school and he embarrassed me!"
"You embarrassed Serena countless times…"
"But that's different."
"How?"
"Because what I said about her is true and…"
"So you didn't lie to your friends about your relationship with Darien?"
Andrew was practically screaming at her. It was bad enough that Darien was doing it, but now Andrew was too.
"Uh, um I gotta go."
During the walk to Serena's house the three were very quiet. Darien worried about Serena.
'Why did I have to be a jerk instead of asking why she was at the park that time of night. I could have prevented her from running away. What if I can never tell her that I actually liked her; that I teased her just to have a reason to talk to her.'
Darien walked with his head down, following the girls. He was totally dejected and for once conveyed emotion on his face. Amy and Lita were thinking about Serena but they were feeling some concern for Darien as well. They had never seen him emotional yet lose his cool. He was taking her disappearance as hard as everyone else was. That was strange since he seemed to not like her.
"We'll find her Darien." Lita said giving him a reassuring smile.
"I hope so…I wouldn't know what to do without her…" he whispered to himself, but the girls heard him nevertheless. Lita knew what he was about to say.
'Wow, he does like her that's why he teased her so much…I just hope he gets the chance to tell her. I though he liked her but always wondered why he was with Raye. But now that I think about it, Darien never seemed too enthusiastic about them. Then there was Raye's behavior today. I know she has her own way of conveying her emotions, but it was her lack of emotion that truly concerns me.'
"This is her house Darien." Amy said breaking both Darien and Lita out of their thoughts.
'She lives here in such a quaint home. I always wanted to live in a place like this. In my dreams I imagined a place like this, with a front porch like that where I could sit and talk with her after having a meal with her family…a family, she has all I ever wanted and now…I don't want to think about it.'
6:00 p.m. - Tsukino Household
knock-knock
"May I help you?"
"Mr. Tsukino, we're friends of Serena, Mrs. Tsukino said it would be ok if we came over."
"Who's that Ken? Oh Amy, come in please."
"This is Lita and Darien they wanted to come too."
"Pleased to met you, I'm glad my daughter has friends who care about her. This is Officer Weldon, he is the officer in charge of filing the report."
"I'm glad you came, can I ask you a few questions?"
"Sure." The girls and Darien said in unison.
"When was the last time you either spoke to or saw Serena?"
Lita and Amy told the officer that they saw Serena last at school and hadn't heard from her since. They didn't tell the officer that Raye had spoken to her last night around 8:30 since it was over the communicator. It would be impossible to explain that since she was grounded and couldn't talk on the phone. Darien, however, sat staring at the pictures of Serena on the table. There were pictures of her at various ages wearing that unique hairstyle. 'So angelic' he thought. He was brought out of his thoughts when Officer Weldon asked if they knew of anyone else that might have seen her last night.
"I saw her last night." Darien nervously uttered.
This wasn't his idea of how he wanted to meet Serena's parents. Her father narrowed his eyes at the young man looking as if he was ready to pounce.
"I saw her at the park last night about 9:15. She was under the gazebo trying to study. I knew I should have saw that she went home, but…um well I picked at her about her grades. That is the kind of 'relationship' we have, constantly teasing one another. At the time I didn't notice she was troubled."
Darien became visibly upset, his eyes became glassy and Serena's father understood his hesitance in speaking up. He knew the guilt Darien was feeling was due to fact that he was the last person to see her, the one person who saw what that day's events had done to his daughter. His anger turned to empathy…he understood what Darien was feeling at that moment. It was the same feeling he had while he searched for his daughter the night before.
"I didn't know she was 'that' upset. I thought she was crying about her grades as she always did when she had to take a failed test home. I thought she was crying about her grades…"
"Don't worry son, you couldn't have known." Mr Tsukino said placing a comforting hand on Darien's shoulder.
"Is there anything else that transpired between you Darien?" Officer Weldon asked.
"After exchanging insults, she ran out of the park, towards Ten'noh."
"Good, this narrows down the search area, our first real lead so far." Officer Weldon got a picture of Serena and called out the APB. "All patrols we have an APB for a missing 14-year-old teenage girl last seen heading towards the Ten'noh district around 9:15 last night. She is approximately 4'11 with long blond hair streaming down from two buns on her head. She has blue eyes and was last seen wearing a Juuban Jr. High uniform with a pink bunny jacket…over"
We copy that officer; there are some patrols in that area…will dispatch
"Well ma'am she hasn't been gone that long, I'm sure we'll find her."
"Thank you officer. Amy, Lita thanks for coming and Darien you gave them a lead…thank you so much."
Mrs. Tsukino hugged the girls then proceeded to hug Darien for a long time.
"No problem, Mrs. Tsukino, I'm glad I could help. I know how if feels to miss someone you care for dearly."
Darien and the girls were preparing to leave when Amy noticed Luna sitting at the door.
"We should be going now." Amy said. " We can make some flyers and ask around. I know some other friends of ours who would want to help. We can come back tomorrow if you haven't heard anything."
"Would you? We would like that. You're welcome to come too Darien."
"I wouldn't want to impose ma'am."
"Nonsense, I won't accept no. Please you are welcomed here anytime"
Smiling Darien said thank you and he and the girls left.
'Of all the times to be accepted by her family' he thought. "I will see you tomorrow at the arcade." Darien said while walking away. 'Maybe Tuxedo Mask can be of assistance and find her.' Once he got a reasonable distance he transformed and headed towards the Ten'noh district.
"Amy is it true, has Serena run away?"
Amy looked down to see that Luna had left the house with them. Picking her up, Amy proceeded to stroke Luna's head.
"Yes Luna, she's missing. According to what I have been able to gather, she left sometime after that fight she had with you and Raye last night."
"Oh what kind of guardian am I? I just wanted her to be more responsible…accept her duty and her destiny like the rest of you did."
"Well Luna your tactics didn't work that way!" Snapped Lita.
She felt that she could have done something, that she should have intervened when Raye and Luna would gang up on her after not living up to their expectations. Tension already existed when she became Sailor Jupiter; during her second battle, Amy and Raye boycotted and left Serena to fight alone. If not for Tuxedo Mask, she would have been pounded into a pulp when she arrived.
"It's not like Serena had innate abilities when you found her. Raye knew how to protect herself; she knew how to destroy evil spirits and sense trouble. Amy was already disciplined in technical areas to determine where the enemy was and how to destroy them. Then I knew how to fight, I'm naturally strong and know no fear, except now."
Luna hung her head low, she knew Lita was right. All of the other scouts had natural abilities that helped them in their battles; Serena on the other hand had to do things from scratch. She was also different from the other scouts. Would things be different if Serena's upbringing was different, more like the other scouts? Lita was an orphan, so she had to learn to do things for herself, to take care of herself. Raye's mother was also dead and her father abandoned her for his career. If she wasn't living with her grandfather or abandoned by her father, would she be as feisty? And lastly Amy, her determination for her education was due based on the fact that she wanted to become a doctor, her mother, who is a doctor, is never home so Amy has to figure out things for herself. All of the girls had to mature at rather young ages in comparison to Serena who had both parents to take care of her with little responsibility for her own welfare. Being a normal teenager one-day and a superhero the next must have been a tremendous adjustment on her part and some resentment should have been expected and understood instead of being used against her. True Serena might have whined about it, but unlike the others, she was being true to her feelings. Luna never told her that she was proud of her after the times she saved Molly alone or how she would draw out the attacks by turning the enemies attention to her to protect the other scouts. Serena has a heart, one that was pure and giving; it gave her strength. She possessed a royal-type quality that Luna thought was familiar but couldn't put a 'paw' on.
"You're right Lita, I pushed her too hard, thinking that was what she needed. Instead of acting adult in her training, I treated her like everyone else. I taunted, teased and belittled her…I thought 'tough love' was the best approach. Instead of developing her fighting and leadership skills, I just help lowered her confidence in herself. I failed her."
"No Luna, we all failed her. Her courage knows no bounds. She may not like to lead or look after herself, but if someone were in trouble, she wouldn't think of anything to sacrifice herself. I never really thought about it much, but she faces an extreme amount of danger being the leader. Everyone always wants to destroy her… oh gods, what if they got to her? What if the Negaverse got her…she thought no one cared about her? It took all of us to defeat and kill that monster last night. How are we going to do that now?"
Lita was taking this harder than anyone. Serena was her first true friend. Unlike everyone else at Juuban who avoided her, Serena looked past the rumors and befriended her, and then she introduced her to Molly, Amy and Raye, even Andrew and Darien. 'She was my first 'true' friend.'
6:52 p.m.
The sun had set and there wasn't any word on Serena. Her friends and family were worried with guilt-ridden faces; each blaming themselves for Serena's disappearance. Here parents weren't aware of all their daughter had endured that day. Of course during the teacher conference, Miss H wasn't going to tell Mrs. Tsukino how she humiliated her daughter in front of the entire class; that day or any other day. Darien wasn't going to tell them how he constantly embarrassed her due to her shortcomings. The girls weren't going to tell them how Raye liked to torment her or how Luna badgered her daily. Her parents thought that it was because of their lack of encouragement in her that caused her to leave.
Raye left the arcade after Andrew began fussing at her. He had a knack that made people think.
'Am I being selfish?' Raye thought. 'Serena 'is' missing. She stepped down, I should be happy; now I can become leader. I have all the qualities that a leader should have. But she turned in her broach too; I didn't want her to do that. She can throw a tiara well; that's all. Humph! I didn't do anything wrong. She is lazy, irresponsible, and whines too much. She deserved all that she got yesterday, from her teacher, her family, Luna and especially me! I still can't believe what Darien did. I guess I should be worried, she did run away…maybe I will ask the fire for help.'
8:47- Tsukino household
"Daddy is Serena coming home? I didn't mean to hurt her feelings…I know it's my fault; I've always been so mean to her. I'm sorry Daddy!"
Sammy did something very uncommon for him; he cried. He sat on his fathers' lap and cried. His only sister was missing and he may never see her again. He may never see her smile, hear her voice, watch her eat mountains of food. Even though he was young, he knew that most runaways, if they aren't found within the first few days, they wouldn't be. It had been over 24 hours since he last seen his sister and the police had only been looking for her for around four; she had a 20 hour lead on where ever she was going.
10:15- Docks of Ten'noh District
Tuxedo Mask continued his search for Serena. He had been looking for a few hours now and his conscience was guilty, something else bothered him; he was plagued with a sense of familiarity with Serena and this, his alter ego. Because he usually watches in the shadows, he didn't speak to dock workers about her whereabouts. He did however listen to the conversations in hopes of hearing about the blond-haired angel named Serena. Dejected and disappointed, he crept back to his apartment and tried to get some rest.
September 19
7:15 a.m.- Tsukino Household
Ken Tsukino sat in the den of his two-story home. All night he sat perched in his armchair in front of the window waiting for the two blond ponytails of his little girl to stroll back into the house. He refused to get any rest, after putting his son to bed he resumed his search to no avail. He drove all over town showing pictures of his daughter to anyone he saw; no one had seen her. So he sat and waited, waited to comfort his little girl; waited to smooth her fears and reassure her that she is loved.
Darien woke up after a haggard night. He went out twice in the morning hours looking for Serena. Each time he returned home he cried himself to sleep. He hope that he would sleep a little longer each time, the earlier he awoke, the longer he would have to subject himself to the fear that Serena wouldn't come back home. He got up and took a long shower; glad that it was the weekend…that meant no class, like he would have been attentive anyway. After he dressed he went to the arcade; usually on the weekends he would study or read the paper at leisure in his apartment. He needed to talk to Andrew, the arcade wasn't open yet, but he knew Andrew would be there. Due to the coolness of the morning, he decided to ride his bike, this would serve a dual purpose, look for Serena and rest his tired legs. He drove around town for a while and finally went to the arcade. Andrew heard his bike pull up in the alley and he opened the door.
"Darien, its kind of early for you, are you ok?"
"No, I went to her house last night. I told the officer what happened at the park. I looked for her most of last night and early this morning…" Darien's statements where dejected but Andrew understood what was going on with his friend. He knew that Darien cared for maybe even loved Serena and his actions proved it.
"How are her parents doing?"
"Fine as to be expected. I didn't want to meet them like that. Her mom invited me back to the house, she said I was welcome anytime. He father even gave me a comforting hand. He seems very protective, of course he would be…she is his little girl."
"Did Raye ever come by the house?"
"Who? That selfish psycho! Hell no! She didn't have the nerve to; it was just Amy, Lita and I. They are going to meet me here, later this afternoon. Gosh it is early isn't it?"
Both Amy and Lita didn't sleep well. Luna stayed with Lita and they proceeded to go to crown, Lita knew that Andrew could improve her mood. On their way to Crown, they ran into Amy.
"Amy, what are you doing up so early?"
"I could ask you the same thing Lita, good morning Luna, are you feeling better?"
"A little, just a little…hey isn't that Darien? He looks horrible. I'm worried about him girls, you check on him and I will be looking around time on my own. I will meet you back here later today."
"Ok Luna, be careful…we will find her."
"Hey Darien, doesn't look like you will have to wait for long, there are Amy and Lita outside."
"Hey Andrew I don't hope you mind us being here so early, this wasn't planned. I met Amy on the street."
"No, it's not a problem, since Darien is already here." Pulling the girls to the side, he then said, "I'm worried about Darien. He said that he was out looking for Serena for most of the night. I didn't think he would take something like this so hard. But no matter how he appeared on the outside, he truly cares about Serena. Just watch him ok?" The girls nodded in agreement and walked over to the counter where Darien sat.
"Hey Darien, how are you feeling?"
"I have been better Amy. This coffee will help though. Where do you want to start?"
"I think we should retrace her steps from the park and head out from there."
Darien and the girls started out looking for their friend. The police and her family kept searching to no avail, it was like she just disappeared. The weekend was slow and tiring. The scouts were happy that there weren't any attacks by the Negaverse. Raye on the other hand was bored from the lack of action. She had not joined in the search for her 'friend'. Luna asked her what was wrong and Raye declared nothing was. Darien avoided her and when she did corner him, he proceeded to finish what he started at the arcade days before. Monday came and Serena's teacher and classmates were told about what happened. Miss H had an interesting expression on her face and began to say something about wishing for the best, when Molly exploded…
End chapter
Hey Dove here, I decided to end the chapter here. This is like eight pages and I don't want any complaints about long chapters. Well, I hope you are compiling a list of suspects and it's the person you least suspect. I will type, edit and update all of my stories this weekend. I am sad though, I'm not getting many reviews. All the ones I have received have been positive ones and I thank everyone who took the time to respond. Look for an update soon.
Dove