Chapter 15

Nephrite holds Serenity's hand as they disembark from the airplane. All three of them keep a close eye on her since they don't know how she is going to react. Nephrite can feel her tense the closer that they get to the gate. He squeezes her hand to reassure her. She looks at him with wide eyes.

He leans over close to her ear. "It will be okay. Your friends are here." He whispers hoping that this will reassure her.

"Mine?" She questions as she shakes her head. She stops and looks out at the people that are standing at the end of the ramp. She sees faces of people that are a little familiar to her.

A flash of memory races through her mind as she looks at each of them. Tears come to her eyes as she looks at the young man that is standing there. A memory of a young girl running to see a young man comes to her. The young man turns and walks away. Sere shakes her head as the tears fall as she recognizes the man in her memory as being the man standing at the end of the ramp and the young woman as being herself. "No," she whispers.

"No what, Sere?" Nephrite tries to coax an answer from her.

"Hurt," she whispers. Her eyes open wide as she looks at Nephrite. "Hurt!" She screams before pulling her hand from Nephrite's hand and running down the ramp.

"Serenity!" He yells as he realizes what is happening.

They all watch in shock as she runs past their waiting friends. Mamoru wastes no time in chasing after Serenity. Both of them disappear into the crowd of the airport.

The others quickly follow after Mamoru and Serenity after introductions are made.

Mamoru finally gets close enough to grab Serenity's arm and stop her in her tracks. She turns to look at him and her eyes go wide with surprise. She tries to pull away, but he holds her arm firmly. When she realizes that she can't get away, she bursts into tears and her knees buckle.

Mamoru feels her start to fall and pulls her close. "Usako," he whispers.

She tries again to pull away, but cannot. She collapses against him and begins to sob. He holds her closer and kisses the top of her head.

"Usako, I should have told you what was going on. I should have known that we would be able to deal with it better together then me by myself. Please forgive me, Usako."

She pulls away from him, but not in desperation as before. He lets her, but still does not let her go completely. "Hurt," she sobs as she points to her heart.

"I didn't mean to hurt you. I just wanted to keep you safe, but that didn't work."

He watches her for any sign of forgiveness, but what he sees is pain. She reaches up and grabs her head between her hands as memories begin to flood into her mind. She lets out a blood curdling scream and then starts to fall.

He grabs her up into his arms and holds her close. "Usako?" He questions. When there is no response, panic fills him. "Usako!" He screams as he gently shakes her, but there is no response.

The others catch up as he yells her name. They quicken their pace to Serenity and Mamoru to find out what happened.

"This may not have been such a good idea after all." Jedite mutters as they approach.

"There really was no choice. She needed to come home and face what happened." Nephrite says in answer to Jedite's comment. When they near Mamoru, Nephrite looks at Serenity and then at Mamoru. "What happened?"

"She said hurt. I told her I didn't mean to hurt her. Then she let out a scream and collapsed." Mamoru tells them in a worried tone.

"Sere," Nephrite says as he places a hand on her cheek.

Her eyes flutter open and she turns her head and looks at Nephrite. "Hurt," she whispers before her eyes close and she goes limp in Mamoru's arms. Tears fall from her eyes. Mamoru holds her close as he feels his own tears well up in her eyes.