Rio turned to see Reenie smiling at her. She felt like laughing and crying at the same time, yet, not there. She wanted to be alone with her feelings. It was hard to leave everything behind like that.

Serna walked over to see what she could do for Rio. She bent down to place a hand on Reenie's shoulder. She noticed Reenie turning her face to see who was. Serena said, "I think Ami wants to see you!"

"What…" Reenie asked, little puzzled. She knew Serena was up to something, yet she did not want to appear to be rude or out of place with her own mother.

"She's got something for you to do!" Serena said with slight nod.

"Right now?" Reenie was starting to let a little annoyed with Serena.

Reenie was about to speak, yet Rio had stopped her by saying, "Look, Reenie…go and see!"

The second to the youngest sailor stood up. Before she started to walk, Reenie said to Rio, "did someone hurt you!"

Rio trying to figure out when her Uncle Zigfield was going to call up next said, "Nope…it's something that I could not stop even if I wanted to." Then, she could hear a bird singing as it flew past her.

Then, Reenie darted into the house. She dared herself to look at Rio one more time, but Rei stopped her by saying, "Look…Reenie, I need help…you want to?"

At first, Reenie was surprised to ask. Rei was trying to make Reenie busy with a little extra work. "Well?" she said, with a surprised lock on her face. She could see Mina and Lita fixing a few things on the table in the dining room. "We have to be busy these next few days…adhere is scout work to be done and Rio is leaving us for a while!"

Reenie had to do a double take. She wondered if she could hear Rei right. Was Rio leaving the scouts for good? It was starting to not set well with her. She was not going to let it up set her. She was still hoping to cleanse the dark kingdoms of the moon and still have a normal life. One the word which Reenie asked was, "Why?"

"Why?" rei said, when she stared to walk towards the dining room. She knew Reenie was going to take it hard.

"Yea, why?" Reenie was following.

"She had just heard a friend was leaving his hometown and she wanted to be there for his leaving. It's going to be only for a day or two," Rei said with a concerned glance at the front door. She knew Rio was taking hard about finding out the story on Bobbie McGee. He was living in Pittsburgh at the time when Rio got to the states. She wanted to see him for a long time. There were phone calls about going to either Salem or Pittsburgh. She was hoping agsint all the odds of his illness taking him before she vcould see it. It was not meant to be. She had gotten the phone call when Reenie, Hotura and Chibi-chibi wsere out. She knew time was always not in her favor. She had to realize who she reallyu was. She was still a child in an aldut world. She had to think on how she was going to take Bobbie's passing. He was another victim of cancer. He had been hoping for just a few more days to see Rio one last time. He had been to the doctors back and forth since coming back from London to Pittsburgh the year before. He was not feeling good at all one day. After having a checkup with his doctor, he had found far too late his body had cancer throughout. It was going item a third state when he found out. There was no way outside of medicine with comfort care; he was going to be strong for a year to two years.

Rio felt like she had been slammed so hard, it made her sick in a short amount of time. She wanted to scream, yet the connection from her mind to her mouth had been shut by fate. The older senshi knew it.

Rei said to Reenie, "We are going to have a supper that is going to be a little hard for all of us!"

"Oh?" Reenie said as she stopped over to the haunch where the dishes were. She could hear the front door opening up. The voices of Rio and Serena were not excited, yet not overly sad as the two girls talked.

There was a hint of panic in Rio's tone. Sue had been through too much all ready. She did not dare tell her uncle Ziegfeld that Alex was kidnapped by the dark forces of the Nega-moon. He could tell her to grow up. She also wanted to keep her family as well as her friends safe. She knew it was going to be a tall order.

"I will be gone for just a day, possibly of two…no more!" Rio said as she stopped at the living room-dining area.

"And what about your family?" Serena asked.

"They are not in the understanding about my powers outside of what they know. My Sailor powers are so new to me that I have a problem still understanding them. I keep them a secret like you do!" Rio sounded very concerned for her own welfare. She knew if her family found out, then the dark forces would turn against her.

"What about if you should get hurt…" Serena asked as she felt like there was too lax of a situation with Rio leaving so sudden. She knew Rio was just another link in the line of Sailor Senshi. She had to let her friend go even if it was for a little while.

"That's chance I have to take. I can look after myself for a little while. Beside, Uncle Zigfield will pick me here and we are driving over to Pittsburgh."

"And what about us…" Serena was not playing stupid.

There was a knock the front door. Rio turned to see Dusty was standing in front of the storm door. He was holding Luna in his arms. She excused herself before heading to the door. She opened the door and said, "What's the call for, love?"

"Sorry for the call…I got a buzz from your uncle and he waited to know if I could come with you to the church!" Dusty said as he entered the front room. He began to stroke Luna on the head with a gentle touch. She like dusty very much. He was a real gentle soul who wanted Rio to be happy. He never chose to fight unless pushed into it. He wanted to protect more than fight. He was like Rio in so many ways of doing well by his friends and family.

"That's O.K. it happened so fast!" Rio said as she felt her chest turn to ice. She released it was hard for the tears to stop half way up to her eyes. "Bobbie was just a nice guy and a great singer who did not get a break!"

Serena knew Rio wanted to have some private time with Dusty. She did speak as she waved Lita and Mina into the kitchen. The two girls heard Dusty's voice as he entered the house. They wanted to make sure dusty was not under Galaxia influence. They walked over to arch nears the living room. They remained still when they heard Dusty talking to Rio.

"It seems like it was not fair in a way…the odds of him making through the treatments and everything was very positive. I just wanted to have one wish for him," Rio sounded a little bitter. The news was not the shoot in the arm that Rio wanted. She knew about Joe-Casey with his illness. She had been fighting against the black moon forces for a while. Then, there were strange things happening to her that she could not place her finger on. She wanted to take everything one step at a time. "There was always a risk involved if you lived like Bobby. He was always on the streets until the streets ate him alive. If it wasn't for the fact he went back home to Pittsburgh and ended up in his father's house, I have no idea what could have been."

Rei and Mina looked at each other with a strange stare. There was something amiss in what Rio was talking about. They wondered why Rio spoke in riddles. She could leave the other girls in the dust when she spoke.

"Bobby was not always a busker. He did have a home to go after his day was done, yet his world clung to the streets," dusty said as he let Luna leap from his arms. She wanted to stay and listen to the two young lovers speak.

The drum beat of war was still fresh in her memory. She had to keep her guard up. Serena and Luna had seen each other. There were no words exchanged as they crossed paths. There was a quiet understanding for a little while to let Rio give for a day or two. Rio had too much on her plate with her aunts and the visit from her uncle. She felt Rio should be still on the alert. She also felt like the others should be alienable at all times when someone else was gone.

The little black cat walked around the two with light paws. She knew there was going to be a difficult minute or two with Rio and dusty. She sat near the coffee table as her tail curled around her paws.

Placing a hand up the chin, Rio sighed, "I feel so awful. I wanted to visit when I got the phone call a few months ago from Bobbie, but I was too busy with my own life."

"You couldn't help that…you were down yourself!" Dusty said, trying to sound comfortable about the turn of events. Everything was trying to be out of control for a while. Rio could not understand why now. She and the others were hoping to get Galaxia and release her soul from all the evil that had captured her again.

"And that's a very poor excuse of me…" Rio swallowed hard.

"What?" Dusty sounded sharp. He always understood, Rio was her own worst critical.

She had a rough view point of herself. She had a very good life when she was brought up by her uncles and aunts. She did not want for nothing, yet she was thirteen things had changed quite darkly. She had no memory of that day when she was going off to her Aunt Sophia's house in Blackpool. She was on a bus and then, the thing she could remember was waking up in a field. Everyone in her family was deeply affected by the disappearance of her. She had been missing for at least six months. It was slow going on trying to get back in the swing of things afterwards. Sher had a feeling deep down where she was being watched. She hoped that her family and friends were not involved in the battle. She was wrong. Even her ermines were mixed up. She did not want them to be so connected.

"You just wanted to be free from the rest of the world. There was nothing outside of you illness to stop you. You just so much like a little kid," Dusty said trying to sound gentle, yet his words were like sharp knives and oh how they hurt her deeply. He did want to be like that. He wanted to sweet and gentle to her. She had been through too much.

"Dusty please…"she swallowed. There were no tears, but there was angered pain inside of her. She hated to be pushed. "I have been thinking about this since I found out this morning." She turned away from him. The fire of the fighting between to lovers was beginning to heat up just a little. "It seems like nothing is going right for me…yet, I don't have a disagreement about it."

"Sorry…" Dusty shook his head slightly. He knew it was stepping over the edge when he began to poke Rio's heart.

"My mind is all in muddle," she reached over to the bridge of her nose with both hands. She had no idea how bad it was. She had to be strong. She began to press the pain that was starting to form at the point of her eyes. "I need to think about it first. I need to talk it over with my uncle too."

"Which one?" Dusty asked.

"Uncle Zigfield…he's staying in Pittsburgh when his plane lands. He doesn't want to impose on my aunts. He wanted to stay with Bobbie's sister, Cathy!"

"When is the funeral?"

"This Saturday. I have to call up my job at the station…I know Mister Sherwood will understand. I just hope the weekend is quick."

Dusty had to leave when he saw Serena entering the room. He told Rio he was going to call up Jakten to see if it was all right for him to be with Rio at Bobbie's funeral. Pittsburgh was not that far off.

Then, he had to leave. There was some work he had to do.

"Was that about your friend, Bobbie McGee?" Serena asked.

Rio walked over to the door. She said as she reached out to close it, "Yea…I have to disgust about the trip. I know I will go for a day!" she turned to see Serena looking at her with a serious stare. Rio did not have to even think twice for what she was going to say, "I going to be out of the picture for a while, but not gone for good."

"That's not it," Serena said. She was a little cheerful as she spoke. She had always a great deal of cheerfulness as she grew in her roll of leader of the sailor senshi. She knew Rio was hurting inside. There was a huddler to overcome in a few hours.

Rio sat in her room with CD player on at half volume. She had been listening to Brian Eno with her eyes closed. She was pressed against the window frame, trying to feel any sort of cool air. The days were getting warmer. Feeling like everyhtng was being tossed at her, roi wnatd to run for a while. She had a sense that she was not fighting for her good, but the rest of the world. She wanted to stop. She had a better understanding what and why Serena wanted to whip out most of the time. Forces inside of her told her, she must go on.

She was not feeling sorry for herself. Instead, she wanted to go back to the old days before she met up with Serena. She did have her own overtures like Mina. She did not have super power just yet. She used a lot of old fashion wit to get by. It was like she was setting her own stage for the future.

There was a knock on the door. She broke away from her dream world. She had been in the waking and dream world as she tried to open the oath way. Her dream world was down trying for a while since her temporary blinders. She had been trying to reline her powers with her mind. It was not easy task. She needed someone to help her in the opening. She was not sure who to get. She felt still a little intimated about Jareth. He was a little hard to approach for Rio was a wee bit like Sarah. She was in total awe of the great Goblin king. Just merely asking him was a fighting idea to her. She did ask Jakten who had taken the time to help heal the rift inside of the dream time to point. He had a feeling there was another breach inside which he could not pass.

She opened her eyes as her body lifted itself up as if she was being pulled by wires. She breathed slowly letting her senses return. She stood with her mind cleared all of sealing the breech. She said gently, "It's opened!"

She was half expecting Serena or even one of the Three Lights. She was surprised to see Lady Sarah, Jarerth's human wife after the door was opened. She uttered "Lady…Sarah?" then, she did a double take. She let Sarah entered the room. The young queen walked over to a large foot rest that Rio used as a chair. She slowly sat down and Rio followed her to the rug. Rio kind of flopped down on the rug with her legs stretched out. Sarah smiled at the young princess. It was not too long ago, Sarah was like Rio, just a simple and normal teen.

"Yes…" Sarah smiled. She was now ageless and still a youthful queen, Lady Sarah had great deal of her own magic. She had been drawn to Jareth for a long time. The story on how the two were reunited again once was told to Rio. Sarah did want admit to him, she had fallen in love with him. After her last days of high school years ago, she had found an old house near where she lived. Inside of the house was a mirror. It was beautiful mirror with one slight flaw to the frame. It was nearly as tall as a man as it stood in the library. Where the mirror and frame connected was a large inlay sliver piece. She had a feeling Jareth could use his power inside of the mirror. There were questions of faint glimpse of Jareth inside the mirror. She knew he was going to ask her to visit him one last time. She had visited the house on many occasions before she admitted to even look into the mirror. Jareth had twisted Sarah's fate into a chance encounter with her once again. She was nearly twenty with her mind all clouded from the idea of going to college. Jareth had his eye on her since their first meeting. She kept her dreams of going back to herself. She had heard about people going to extremes with their dreams. Her parents would not hear of her going off to another world to become even a princess. They wanted her to become a dull grownup like they were.

Jareth had fallen in love with Sarah from a distance. She knew he was a protective guardian. She had never dated or even hung out with anyone from school. She was still playing her little silly custom play in the old house after long days of working at her studies. Jareth was amused with her playacting as he watched her from his castle.

One day had to be the end of her normal life. Sarah had been working at her studies at the library. It seemed very dull in fact. After being accepted into a local college, Sarah was getting herself ready. Everyone at her school kept their distance from her. She loved the idea of being alone in the lands of the humans. She knew of a young boy who thought she was stupid for her own world. He had followed her to the old house. She had a small desk and chair in the library with the old mirror sitting right behind the desk. Her mini library was set up on the middle of the desk. She came from babysitting Toby. Toby was growing up and had questions about the globins. She told Toby she was going to her own castle to study for the day. She would return later on for supper. The boy saw Sarah crossing the street near her house. She was headed for the old house. The boy started to follow her.

At Jareth castle, the great goblin king had a companion mirror to the one in Sarah's old house. He daily watched her for a few hours to see she was all right. A cold feeling began to eat at him as he noticed the boy from Sarah's classes as the boy followed her. He wanted to go to her world to stop the boy froim hurting sarah. She knew of the boy and avoided him at all costs. He stood in a room where he protected the mirror from the rest of the world.

When Sarah stopped at a light near the old house, she felt a flying object hit her on the back of the neck. She turned to see the boy with his car hard suit and ball cap. An instant feeling of dread nearly engulfed her. She started to walk just a little faster when she got the path leading up to the house. The boy began to do the same.

Jareth knew the boy was no good. He reached out to merely touch the mirror's frame. He said in a gently tone of voice, "Please come here, my girl."

Sarah heard Jareth calling on her. She jerked to attention for a second before nearly running to the front door. The boy thought she was being a dope as he followed her. Pulling out his pocket was his jackknife. He was going to do his own little play acting. He noticed Sarah darting into the house.

After that, Sarah could remember trying to lock the door. Jareth was ready to step into the mirror on his side. The boy took off like a rocket towards the front door. He started to yell at her when his fists made contact with the door. Sarah's heart pounded like a drum machine when she leaned against the door. The front entrance way was nearly the library. Jareth, cane in hand stood in front of the mirror. He reached out with the other to merely touch the mirror. It began to ripple like water. He pushed his way inside of the mirror. Sarah heard the pounding as she tried to hear for the click of the lock.

The seconds were slowed down as Sarah heard the click before heading towards the library. She heard jareth's voice, begging her to enter the library. She did what she was told to do. She looked at the mirror. It glowed with a white light as Jareth's voice could be heard by her and her alone. She looked around for another roadblock to put in the hallway for the boy to fall over. He watched as Sarah drew near to the mirror. She was a little surprised to see him. Gasping Sarah asked, "What are you doing here?"

"No…time to explain…please get inside!" Jareth pleaded. He waved his hand past the mirror. The glass became thin as ice.

It was a few seconds later as the boy noticed Sarah entering the mirror like she was just stepping into an opened door way. He was going to stop her with the knife. He raised his hand to throw the knife. At the same time Jareth raised his left hand rot halt the boy in mid-throw. Jareth reached out with all those powers to break the seal surrounding the mirror's magic. He was going to unleash his full magic to stop the boy from harming Sarah.

Sarah reached out with her right hand to making a grab for Jareth's hand. It seemed like all the stars in the universe were unlined for that moment of time. She felt a great deal of power coming from Jareth and she was willing to take it all. She was engulfed for a spilt second then; it was all over as she felt her own power of magic awaken. She had been transformed into a fairy princess like no other. She had her eyes closed for a heartbeat. When she opened them she found herself inside of Jareth's throne room once again. She glanced around the room, then at Jareth. She had noticed his smile of relief. She was dressed in a simple cream and gold gown. Jareth stared with a slight angered fire in his eyes. He was going to not really hurt the boy, instead with a flick of the wrist; the boy had pulled back into the outside. He had totally forgotten the whole idea of Sarah being. She was wiped clean from the boy's mind. Jareth held Sarah for a long time. He stood in front of the mirror when he commanded it to reseal the barrier from within the frame.

Sarah was finally Jareth's wife. There was no real ceremony for the two at the time. She wanted to have one, yet she was glad to be that happy in the knowledge of being the queen of the goblins.

Rio loved the story that Sarah had told, yet she wanted to know the reason behind why Sarah's tale. Sarah told her as she placed an opened palm up to her chin, letting her cool fingers wrap around her left check. She studied Rio for just a second before saying, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"How did you know?" Rio said as she tried to figure out why Sarah's visit was a little out of the norm. She hoped Galaxia did not get a hold of Sarah or even Jareth. He was very great ruler of the globin world who wanted nothing more than just giving young children a change to dream.

Then, Sarah smiled, relaxing her powers, "I'm just figuring out you. You do have powers…they are still pretty weak. The reason why I came here was Jakten was a little concerned about you. He worries about your powers and your, yourself!"

Rio feeling a great deal of relief, said, "I'm fine. There is nothing more than I can say. I have been trying to return what I have lost. It's not easy!"

"You are telling me the truth. You still have many years to really get into the magic…or is there something more powerful than just mere magic?"

Rio had been through this idea before with Serena, Hakura and seiya. She had an idea when she had the missing months during her thirteenth year, she had been placed in a situation she had no control over. Then, like a mirror which Rio wanted so badly to return to her, it was cleansed for a few years. Little bits and pieces where coming back to her.

Sarah knew Rio had a troubled past. She was not going to pry into Rio's memoires. It was just a mere visit to see what was going on with the young girl.

Rio retold some of her own tales of being pursued by men in black suits and the frightening nightmares she had faced when she came back home from the hospital.

Rio asked, "Why are you here?"

"You have a very special power...the power of love! You have learned to bounce back with love!" Sarah said. She could sense Rio was a servicer. She had heard the stories from Alex and Serena on what they had learned about Rio. She could sense something else besides the powers which Rio had. She had an idea; Rio was headed for a test. This was no ordinary test. This test was different. She tried to focus on what that test was. There was a clouded doorway which only Rio could open with no help from anyone else.

Rio placed both hands on her chin, letting her fingers wrap around her cheeks. She felt the coolness of her skin. She had a slight smile as she said, "I know about the power of love. I have tried to get use to the power of growing up, becoming an adult. There is nothing like watching your world change. Somehow I don't want to change with it just yet."

"I can understand," Sarah sighed. She remembered being eighteen and wondering who she was going to be with or what she was going do with the rest of her life. "Once you think you have it figured out, life opens two doorways and you will have to decide."

"Yet, I have more doors than just a couple. I have been hoping to end somethings that I have come across. I feel like I need to get my life started up on a different path. I just hope I was not a burden to anyone. I know I have pulled a few and raised a couple of eyebrows, but I wouldn't be trading it in for no one."

"You need to talk about growing up?" Sarah asked. She could have a sense of Rio as well as them others who were in the same situation as she was. She was going to be the older sisters to the girls who wanted a friend to talk to.

"I have talked before to my aunt Oliva. She came from a large family, about seven kids," Rio said.

"Wow!" Sarah smiled. She reminded herself, Rio was a very stubborn girl as well. She knew Rio had grown up in tough surrounding at first. Then, when her family worked themselves out of the east-end of London, Rio never had to change too much. She was the shy little girl who wanted more than being a social lite. She was going to change the world one step at a time.

"And there is also my Uncle Anthony. He doesn't like the city life too much when he was a young boy. Once he got into the chips, he moved. I live part of the time in London and the part outside of Wormwood Scrubs. I have a very confused life at times. The summers are fun at Wormwood," Rio smirked.

"Is Wormwood where you live during the summer break?"

"Some of the time!"

"You sound like you do a great deal of traveling!" Sarah asked with curious smile.

"My Uncle Anthony is C.E.O. in an oil company and my Uncle Zigfield is a painter, kind of like a Monet. He is the one who coming over here."

"With his wife?"

"Yes, they have been married for about twenty years. Olivia had given birth to Eva just a year, nearly two. Eva is a ball of fire."

"Eva sounds like my little brother toby!" Sarah reflected on her young step brother and how much she had missed the years after becoming queen that she could have seen. She realized for a few days or even a month she could have spied on Toby to see if he was all right. In her heart of hearts, it would not be right. She did have a glimpse of her brother in Jareth's mirror. He had another mirror placed in Toby's room without Toby knowing it. She was happy when Toby was finally growing up into a strong young man. Somehow she did not want Rio to be caught up in her own life without watching out for the others.

The two girls parted after a long time of just talking. Sarah left the house with the reassurance of Rio's powers in full tact. Sarah had a feeling the young acaridan princess would be needing them.

Rio was going to read a little but before going off bed. She knew the next day was going to be a long one.

The next morning was just as plain was the last. Rio had gotten up with the sun. She did not help Charlie or Stephanie with the paper route. She wanted to have a day off from the rest of world. Her own world had taken a twist right down the middle. She had a light breakfast as she watched the sun rising up from the Livingroom. She had a feeling she and the other girls were not finished with the black moon kingdom.

Rio had a chair set in front of the large picture window in the Livingroom. She had a tape of an old radio show playing. She had a small tape deck sitting on the fireplace mantel. There was a great deal of excitement coming from the speaker. A character named of Ken Thurston was trying to drive a car as another car was speeding up toward his. Gun shots punctuated the fast pace of the story. The noise of the gun shots made a little black cat wake up suddenly from a great deal of sleep.

Luna raised herself up in a slow wave fur and bone. She yawned like a great cat in a little body.

She was sleeping in the front room with Artemis and Diana behind the sofa. She looked around for the one whom making the noise.

"What are you doing?" called a voice from the tape machine.

Then, there were gun shots being fired for the second time. The air became tinny with the sounds of a band playing in the background.

Luna rounded the bend of the sofa. She noticed Rio watching the man who walked his dog every morning going past the house. She walked up to the window ledge. She pleasing up towards the ledge, Luna asked, "How did you sleep!"

Rio was a little startled at first as she noticed the little moon kitty. She reached over to give Luna a stretch behind the ears. "Not all that great. I wish it was Monday…"

"Because?" Luna asked as she felt Rio's fingers hitting an itchy spots.

"Yea…in a way," Rio looked down at Luna. Luna was letting out of her deep purr. Rio gave a quick stroke to Luna's back, before stopping the petting session with her favorite cat. She turned to walk over the kitchen for her breakfast.