A/N: So, I've been getting a lot of comments about how I should continue 'A Depressed Princess,' but I've been really stuck - I'm not usually this depressing, honestly! This was just exam angst, but I really want to make some kind of continuation so I made this. I don't think it's as good as the first chapter, but I hope you enjoy it!
PS I just made a poll of who Serena should end up with, so if you have an opinion or suggestion pls look at that.
Serena almost made it all the way to her house before she collapsed, her… exchange, with the Inners finally taking its toll on her. She turned around and realized that only Neptune was behind her in the form of Michelle. Michelle caught her before she hit the ground and smiled gently at her, before heaving her up and propping Serena against her own body as they made their way back to the Tsukino household.
"The others had something they had to do, but we didn't want to leave you along so I stayed." Michelle explained lightly, reassuring Serena greatly. She understood, truly she did, however she couldn't help but wonder how she would explain everything to her mother - after all, she'd never mentioned knowing the famous violinist Michelle Kaiou, and she could barely stand on her feet.
Finally, they reached the door to Serena's house, and before Serena could stop her Michelle rang the doorbell. Ikuko answered the door and gasped - not because of the famous person in front of her (though later she would question it), but because of the state her daughter was in. She saw the bandages around Serena's arms as her sleeves had ridden up, she had dark bags under her eyes with smudges that she assumed to be makeup, and Ikuko couldn't help feeling like a failure for not noticing these things earlier.
"What happened?!" Ikuko nearly screamed, she hadn't - she hadn't noticed how tired her daughter was, she hadn't noticed Serena's slowly declining appetite, she hadn't noticed anything! What kind of mother was she? She quickly ushered both Michelle and Serena inside, helping Michelle lay Serena on the couch before she bustled about frantically, making tea, grabbing a thermometer, calling her husband Ken to tell him what was going on, etc. Michelle grabbed some blankets from the linen closet (how she knew where it was, Ikuko didn't know,) and laid it on Serena.
"Her so-called 'friends,'" Michelle said the word with so much venom, Ikuko found it hard to believe this was the same serene girl she'd seen perform on television. "Happened. I didn't know her before she befriended them, however I've seen her slowly die inside from all the negativity those girls spew at her." Michelle practically growled as she tucked the blanket around Serena, who'd fallen asleep under Michelle's mothering.
"What? But - but they were all outcasts before she met them!" Ikuko exclaimed, though after she said it, she realized how much sense that made - they were all outcasts because they were so negative.
"Agreed," Michelle said, startling Ikuko as she hadn't noticed that she'd voiced that thought aloud. "Why didn't you say anything about them before, if I may ask? It's not your fault your daughter is like this, but I would like to hear your take on this manner." Michelle said in a much calmer manner.
"At first, I'd thought it was strange, the way they treated Serena whenever they came over, but- but, Serena always said that was just their personalities, that they were just like that sometimes." Ikuko sighed, tears spilling from her eyes as she reflected. "I thought- I thought that it was a stage, that they'd stopped doing that years ago, but now that I think about it, they just stopped doing it in front of me." She started wiping at her eyes, trying to get the words out of her throat. She pressed on, and Michelle listened quietly "They were always - not quite rude, but… abrasive? I think? Whenever I was around, and they'd try to get me to leave as soon as possible whenever they came. Serena never spoke badly about them though, and I thought that maybe, some of their good habits might rub off on Serena. And it did! It did, but they never - they never stopped, and maybe I was stupid, but I thought that they were trying to motivate her to be even better!"
Michelle started rubbing small circles on the older woman's back as she cried, handing her tissues in the pauses between her story. Michelle understood where the elder woman was coming from, however if everything she was saying was true, then this made quite the disturbing picture - if they could hide blatant bullying as encouragement and teenage angst from such a young age, what else had they done?
She hadn't realized how long they'd been talking, but the door opened and Sammy entered to see his mother crying, his elder sister laying dead to the world on the couch, and a stranger (he didn't watch classical concerts,) sitting there. "Who died?" Sammy asked bluntly, making the assumption that the woman was an official or something.
"No one," The strange woman said, but just as Sammy was about to sigh in relief she continued "yet." Sammy's eyes widened as he started looking for a weapon - she'd sounded extremely scary and threatening as she said the last word. "Not you." She said quickly as she saw his terrified expression. "Just the ones who did this to your sister." She said, making Sammy look closer at his sister. Then he saw what his mother had noticed when she saw Michelle at the door and he gained a dark expression as well.
"When, where, and can I help?" The fourteen year old said extremely seriously. "I know people who are more than willing to kill for Serena." He had a dead serious expression, though the scandalised expression on Ikuko's face made Michelle reconsider taking Sammy up on his offer - at least in front of his mother.
"Sammy!" Ikuko exclaimed, though her next statement threw both youngsters off. "At least ask your father if he'd like to help before you ask your friends, he'd been meaning to practice with his guns for a while now." Ikuko scolded. Before the two children could respond, Serena woke up.
"Ah, I need to go do my homework." Serena said, getting up, her eyes glazed and she started walking around, stumbling through the house as she tried to do her routine even as tired as she was. This alone spoke volumes of how used to - well, this, that she was. She was still mumbling though, and as they listened, they realised how deep this truly ran. "-bring Rini to school on time, make sure to get to school, then training, study for the test next Wednesday -"
"No sweetheart, you are going to sleep." Ikuko said sternly, though her face was red and blotchy from tears. Serena startled and she seemed to become more aware of her surroundings, and looked around confused.
"But Mama, I have to go. If I don't, I'll fall behind again." Serena said with a frown, making Michelle and Sammy share a look - this wasn't anything like the Serena that they knew and - as much as Sammy hated to admit - loved. "And the girls need me-" Serena started but Michelle cut her off.
"No they don't, nor do you need them, Sere." She seemed to have a silent conversation with Serena, an argument that Serena apparently lost if the way she visibly deflated was anything to go by. "They dug their graves, they can all go lie in them now. I for one know that no one will be going to the Temple anytime soon, nor will they be anywhere near you if they know what's good for them."
"Agreed." Sammy said, crossing his arms and nodding to affirm his own statement. "I don't know what they did, but I do know that no one ever wanted to be near them anyway - they just wanted to see why Serena liked them so much." Secretly, Sammy was already planning to call up Molly and Melvin, they'd been talking about how much they missed Serena and now he had the perfect reason to reconnect the childhood friends.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with the three of them bustling around Serena, forcing her to rest for at least the day, and if they had their way she wouldn't be going to school for the next few days. It was quite obvious that she was sick, something even the strict Ms. Haruna had noticed as time passed - it was concerning, since the usually bubbly student was slowly losing all her energy, almost like one of the monsters that had plagued them in the last few years was attacking her constantly. Oh, if only they knew - she was facing them every night, on top of her regular life, which she now had work even harder for - afterall, it was nearly time to apply for university, something the other girls hadn't thought of much, as they believed that they would just become Serenity's guardians full time soon enough.
Before Ken Tsukino entered, he had the strange urge to polish his gun collection and double check his stores of ammunition. Making a note of his paternal instincts kicking in, he opened the door and saw his family, as well as the celebrity violinist who was dating the champion race car driver. What was her name? Mitchy? Monica? Whatever, but the question was why was she in his house, and why was she helping his wife and son hold his daughter in a cocoon of blankets?
The group all looked at him, and he felt a migraine building behind his eyes before, in all seriousness, he rubbed a hand over his face, fatigue forcing him to shed his usual happy smile. "I don't want to know, just tell me who I'm going to kill?"
With the Scouts and Darien(minus Neptune)
"Just what in the name of Selene were you thinking?" Saturn demanded in the darkest tone the girls had ever heard from the soft spoken girl. Her dark violet eyes had an even darker glint in them as she glared at the now regular girls. It was even more menacing than that of Mistress Nine, her voice held true to power - they even saw a grim reaper behind her as she spoke.
Ray, ever the overconfident and self righteous girl stood tall despite everything inside her wanting to get away as soon as possible and spoke first. "She was a hindrance. We don't need her to fight - we fought without her on the moon, and we'll fight without her here." Ray said presumptuously, obviously not understanding what Princess Serenity announced when she released them of their duties.
"How?" Pluto asked just as coldly, her timeless eyes staring at them with no emotion, her voice dead. "The Princess has released you from service, you can no longer call on the power of the moon to help you." Pluto scoffed at them. She'd arrived soon after Serenity had left, with the rest of the Outers minus Neptune, who they'd sent to care for her while they dealt with these disgraces.
"Well obviously she didn't do it right, we still have our transformation pens!" Amy yelled, pulling out her own pen as if it proved her point. "She can't even do that right!" She huffed and stuck her nose in the air.
Uranus blatantly laughed at their idiocy, truly she was the representative of Mercury? The most advanced planet besides the moon? Hah! Oh, how her people must be rolling in their graves. "So? Those artifacts will be recalled as soon as she finds your replacements, you didn't think that you were the only reincarnations on this planet, did you?" Uranus mocked them.
"But I'm the Prince of Earth-" Darien started, trying to make the point that he could give them powers, but was interrupted by Hotaru - a mocking smile gracing her lips and the aura of death surrounding her as she spoke darkly.
"Ah, but you were never trained in using your powers correctly, nor would you bestow the same amount of power - the Moon's Scouts have had generations to augment their powers, to nurse the seed of power they were given into what it is now, while you - you would barely be able to understand how to create such power, the magic is so ancient." Dark smiles appeared on Uranus and Pluto's faces as well, and Pluto continued on Hotaru's thought without prompting.
"You don't even know where your crystal is, and now that Serenity is unwilling to help you, you will never be able to unlock it." She smirked, knowing from the timeline that her statement was true. She didn't truly reveal the future, though she made it no secret that she knew something Darien didn't. "I doubt that you can do more than what you already can now that Serenity is no longer at your side. You, with your limited capabilities as they are will never truly be able to go against even the scouts as they were, even less so now that Serena and the Silver Imperium Crystal have left your presence."
"Then we just need to take the Crystal from her." Mina announced in her whiny voice, disgusting the true Scouts with her tone.
"How?" Uranus asked the obvious question. After all, the Outer Scouts had just heard their new ambition, and knew how to counter all of them. "Now that you don't have your powers, you're all merely girls. You might have some fighting techniques," Uranus looked at Lita at this as if saying 'that's all you're good for,' "or maybe, you're a bit powerful in the public," she looked at Mina meaningfully, obviously making a jab at her role as Sailor V, a large joke among the Outers. After all, she was just making herself a joke, making it seem as though what they did was all fiction. "But we have both that, and economic sway." Uranus finished.
Pluto continued where Uranus left off, "Uranus is a famous race car driver, and has been showing good will to all sorts of charities throughout her career, as well as being a Pride Ambassador with her status as a transgendered person, and her relationship with Neptune. Neptune is a Pride Ambassador as well because of this, and she is well known in the upper class because of her status as an internationally renowned violinist. I myself am a well known University student studying in the top university in Japan, majoring in Physics and I'm the top student of the school. Saturn is the daughter of a renowned scientist who recently passed away, giving her the sympathy of the elder generation, as well as all the funds he generated. Add that on top of our superior fighting skills and teamwork, and we have you quite beat." Pluto finished her explanation of exactly why none of what they said would work.
"Besides, we would kill you before we allowed you near the Princess again." Saturn said quite clearly, Uranus cracking her knuckles menacingly beside her as they stared into the eyes of the dismissed Scouts with no small amount of hate left out. They were Serenity's guardians now, at least until the new scouts were activated, and they wouldn't fail her like these ingrates did.