Darien was just taking the last steps and seconds later was standing and looking at Serena. For a moment, his emotions and feelings towards the girl were unguarded, for the whole world to see. She's beautiful...

She was walking towards him and he understood that the girl had yet to notice him. Then she run into him and Darien put his hands on her shoulders to steady the girl who lost her balance due to the bump.

Serena looked at Darien, who by now had managed to hide his true emotions and was giving her a small but earnest smile. "Hi." He greeted her and Serena blushed a little and replied with a small 'Hi' herself.

"Sorry for bumping into you again," Serena apologised and started to fidget.

"I'm sort of used to it by now." Darien laughed back and Serena looked at him, his laugh was not entirely rare. She had witnessed it plenty hanging out with their mutual friends, but it never ceased to amaze Serena how much she enjoyed the deep timbre of the laugh. She could not help but send him her a happy smile, and to start laugh herself.

A small breeze carried some strands of her hair towards her face, hiding her eyes and she raised her hand to take them away. At the same, time Darien reached for the strands on his own, without thinking, and their hands touched.

Serena stopped laughing, as did Darien, now they were just smiling at each other shyly, the girl blushing a deeper shade of red. Serena let her hand down and looked at Darien while he slowly and gently tucked some loose strands behind her left ear. "Don't cut your amazing hair," he whispered to the girl.

The white clad man floating high above them was disgusted by the scene in front of him. He had paid a high price to come to this dimension of another reality, but not to see the girl he wants to be courted by another man. He was told that this was the time from all the time lines where the Princess was the easiest to acquire. He thought of the girl nothing more than a simple possession, a beautiful one, but only a thing he needs.

And he will make sure that in this time line she will be his, even if he had to kill her and turn to one of his mindless zombie like slaves. The pair angered him and with a flick of his hand, a creature appeared while he disappeared leaving behind only a command of bringing him the girl.

"Something's not right." Rei said, she was feeling nauseous. "There is a presence that is not supposed to be here," she continued and without hesitation willed her transformation wand to appear in her hand, "something is intruding the Shrines barriers, and it's near where Serena and Darien is. Amy?" The girl in question was already typing away on her mini computer. "You are right, its signatures are similar to the ones of a youma…" the last part was whispered. "She can't be back," Lita clenched her jaw. "I got its location. It should be right above. Wait… Above them?"

The four girls turned their heads upwards and that is when they saw the creature. Mina would later call it a mix of the funny Pokémon Ditto and Mystic from X-men. The creature had a human-like form, but no hairs and its form was wobbly and seemed to be more like trying to hold a human form. And it was the most terrible brown colour she had seen this season in fashion.

The girls quickly left their place in the bushes and hurried behind the house to transform without being seen or causing a scene. Eight seconds later Sailor Jupiter was jumping up from the roof in a battle cry with her fist ready and aimed straight at the creatures head.

Sailor Mars at the time jumped from the roof and landed near the pair, "quickly, you must leave this place now. Both of you." The last part was meant for Serena to leave this to the girls, she wanted Serena and Darien out of her.

But Serena did not even have time to protest as Darien's instincts to protect kicked in and her grabbed Serena by the wrist and started to drag her away. Only he was meat with a resistance. He turned to tell Serena not to hesitate but was met with a scene of horror.

He was sure he left her out of line of sight not more than two seconds. She was trapped with brown sluggish looking arms, that resembled tentacles more that anything else, wrapped around her body. Her mouth was covered as well and she tried to pry herself free with the other hand. And she was scared. Darien could tell this by looking into her eyes.

The man looked at the Senshi and saw them all being wrapped up by the tentacle things like cocoons. Even Sailor Mars who was just by their side. The creature that was in a strange brown colour looked like a human had grown too many arms, except they were not arms and they were coming from every part of the creature's body. Darien was the only one left free to act. It looked like the creature was leaving him free just to torment him.

Darien looked at the Senshi and then at Serena and noticed that they were slowly being suffocated. Sailor Mercury was already limp and he hoped not dead. Serena was starting to lose the fight too as her hand, that he was still holding, was going limp.

"What an ugly bastard!" Darien heard from above and saw four men dressed in what looked like partial armour cutting with their swords the tentacle-arms connecting the human cocoons and the creature. They each freed a girl and levitated to the ground and cut the remaining substance from the girl bodies, which seemed easy enough as the mass of arms seemed to loosen when separated from their source. Sailor Venus was the only one at consciousness and first checked the girls and then with barely getting on her feet tried to go for Serena, who was at the moment freed from the creatures clasps by a man with shoulder length blonde hair.

"Are your friend or foe?" She asked the man while Darien was taking Serena into his arms and slowly lowering her on the ground and tearing the creatures remains off the girl.

"Friend." He replied simply and joined his comrades battling the creature that seemed to be angered by their actions and stopping its entertainment with the girls. Venus looked down at Serena, "is she okay?" Darien was lightly slapping her cheeks to wake her up, and inhaled a deep breath of relief when the blue eyes fluttered open.

She tried to sit up. Darien helped her, looking out for any unwanted attacks from the creature. If Darien had paid closer attention to Sailor Venus he would see her taking a protecting stance, the one the Senshi usually have when protecting each other, especially Sailor Moon.

Sailor Venus was watching the four man battle the creature and saw that they were in excellent battling form, their interactions smooth. They were very well trained and Venus was truly hoping that they were friends. She looked over at the girls and saw them coming closer to her while watching out for any tentacles. They seemed to have regained some power, and Venus hoped they could help the four warriors to beat the monster.

"Come Serena, we should get to safety." Darien said behind her back and Venus realised that at the moment Serena cannot transform. She would risk exposing herself to Darien. She knew he could be trusted, but he could never allow Serena to go and fight if he knew she was Sailor Moon. Venus decided to chime in.

"I suggest we split up. I will take the girl and Sailor Mars will show you where you can hide. It's best if two people not able to combat something like this" she gestured to the creature "would be split up and hidden. The monster cannot concentrate properly while fighting those man and looking for two separate victims."

As much as Darien wanted to object, he also knew she was right. And once Sailor Mars would leave him, he can transform and help them or find Serena and protect her. He nodded the girl, and he and Mars started to move away from the scene as carefully as possible.

Sailor Venus's plan failed. Just as Darien watched Serena go the other direction, the creature launched a different attack and hundreds of tentacle-arms extended from its body. Too much for the four men to take on, even the Senshi couldn't stop all of them.

Darien watched as in slow-motion. Sailor Mars was pushed towards him and they both somehow were sent flying all the way back to the temple stairs. The shield came up and tried to protect him, but Sailor Mars went through the barrier and they rolled down the stairs until stop. Darien looked at the now passed out girl, blood seeping from a wound somewhere on the back of her head. He himself feeling dizzy, before he blacked out the last thing he saw was Serena being lifted high in the air. The last thing he heard was Serena's screams.

When Darien and Mars were shoved down the stairs, Serena was helpless. And captured yet again by the creature. She felt herself being lifted again and looked for the other girls, they were each on the ground, cast in every direction. The four man held captive just like her, but then the creature tossed them and they too were now lost. She screamed.

Serena screamed and cried at the same time. This cannot be happening. Not again. She tried to look at the creature and it looked like it was smirking. With the face without proper outlines she was not sure, still she tried to fight back. She could not just give up, couldn't she? She grabbed her brooch from the subspace pocket, only now she had the chance to use it.

And then she felt it. The creature had threw her like a ball towards the ground. The brooch slipped from her fingers and was smashed into the ground by one of the creatures tentacles. Serena could only whisper a 'no'. She watched the ground coming nearer, her vision blurry from the tears. A short distance before hitting the ground Serena screamed out "NOOO!"

Sailor Senshi, Darien and the four men were encircled by white and warm light. Similar to the one at the Artic. Serena was passed out on the ground, the brooch next to her still shattered into bits and pieces.

The Silver Crystal and the Princess once again saved and healed them. They destroyed the creature. And also gave a little insight to Sailor Mars and one of the four men whose battle attire had the colour red.

She was wearing a white dress. Her feet were bare. She was surrounded by darkness. Then she was surrounded by mirrors. Only due to the almost non-existent light she could barely see herself in them. Then the girl felt stepping into something liquid. It was thick and had a smell she knew too well. It was blood.

The blonde girl tried to step out of the fluid only to step more deeper into it. "Stop this! Stop!" She lifted up her dress and then noticed that her hands were covered in the fluid as well. The red colour stood out on the white fabric.

"You did this!" a voice said to her, whispered into her ear. She sharply turned, dreading to see the owner of it, but was met with emptiness and the mirrors. They were coming closer to her. And from one of it was a man's hand stretching out to her. She tried to step back, only to find her back pressed against a mirror. "Stop this! Who are?" she whimpered.

"It does not matter who I am. What matters is that you killed them. Killed them all." The hand was coming closer and a white clad figure could be seen attached to it, or more correctly the hand was a part of the white figure. Then she heard the laugh. It was horrible and sounded vicious.

The girl pressed palms against her ears. She wished the laugh would stop. She shut her eyes and screamed as loud as she could "STOP! PLEASE STOP!"

Serena jolted awake screaming 'stop' and eight pairs of eyes all turned towards her. She looked at the people in the room and realised she sat up too quickly. You know what happens when you sometimes get up to quickly and all turns black? Serena felt the exact same way. She laid down on the bed slowly, taking deep breaths, her eyes closed. When the dizziness subsided, she sat up again and looked again at the people in the room.

They were in one of the shrines guest rooms. The girls were still in Senshi forms, the four man were also still there. One more was missing. "Where is Darien?" she almost did not dare to ask. Sailor Mercury answered, "he is fine, just still passed out." She nicked her head towards the other side of the room, and there was Darien. Laying on a mattress, just like her. "Is it gone?" it was the second question she was afraid to ask. "Yes." Again was the reply supplied by Mercury. She came to Serena, leaned to check her pulse and pushed a small paper in Serena's hand.

One of the four man spoke "Since you seem to be awake and well, we will take our leave. Ladies?" He then gestured to the door, and the girls smiled and exited the room followed by the men. Serena waited for them to leave and opened the paper from Amy 'Senshi meeting tomorrow afternoon, details will follow.'

So it has started again. And I did not even have a date with Darien. Is this a sign? The girl let out a sigh and laid in the bed waiting for Darien to wake up.