Chapter 6: Memories Fade, Memories Anew
"What can we do? She doesn't even know what's going on…" Lita looked at Serena who was in a bed at Darien's apartment.
"She's completely forgotten being a Sailor Scout…where she lives…what grade she's in…" Mina said looked worried.
"How will she react now that she's forgetting who we are too…?" Rei asked.
"Well…considering how she's acting it seems the more she forgets the more she seems to be sinking back into her own mind." Ami said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if you forget most of what you know, the only thing you have left is yourself. It's like a rapid case of Amnesia. The older people at the hospital often grow silent and gone, as if all they know is their own mind. They can't remember… I think that's where the demon of Forgetfulness is most potent." Ami reluctantly admitted.
"So she's acting like a newborn would…observant but not aware of what's going on, because she can't remember what she knew." Lita speculated.
I get the feeling she has forgotten, us…we're taking too long…" Darien said with grief. He recalled the moment Serena couldn't remember him about an hour ago. He tried to get her to wake up but she stared around and asked whom he was. The Seed turns them into passive zombies of an amnesic mind. Maybe that's how she felt when his memory had been erased. Serena was always a little childish, but she had matured. He never thought her forgetful nature, at least when it came to school and sometimes-simple memory in that sense, would be her downfall. They needed a way out of this. "And the worst part is…she's going to forget everything. We can't even heal her because she's the only one that can stop that new Demon." Darien looked stressed, as his gaze moved to Serena who just lay wide blank eyed on the bed.
"Darien's right. Serena's going to keep moving into this dark hole in her mind that's just sucking information in…we need to reverse the Seeds effects to see if we can find a way to get it out." Rei looked cross.
"So we need to help her remember something. Something that would trigger all her memories back." Mina said. "Something powerful."
"Well Serena likes food…and she-" Mars bit her lip. "What if we got Luna to talk to her? Luna started it all."
"We can try. But I see what Mina is saying; something has to jar her memory. Something that runs back possibly farther than Luna." Ami bit her lip.
"Hey, hate to barge in on the party but the cat's got our tail."
They turned to see Amara and Michelle at the door.
"What's wrong? Artemis told us about the sightings of those Fallen Scouts…" Michelle said.
"Serena got seeded by one of them. She's slowly forgetting everything and she's the only one who can heal the girl who has the Demon that reverses it." Mina said.
"Well if there's one thing we can try, would be to use our scout powers to try to awaken her…" Amara looked a little thrown off.
"We can do that?" Rei asked.
"With Darien present in the circle, it might work. His Earth healing powers could help." Artemis nodded.
"If you girls use your powers you might be able to draw Sailor Moon's powers out. Maybe that would stop the dark powers from working." Luna said.
"It's worth a shot." Lita nodded.
They took a circle around Serena.
"This feels so …ritualistic." Rei admitted.
"Well Luna's here but unless we find a really good jarring memory…" Lita admitted.
"Alright…Lets do this." Darien finally piped in. The girls nodded. They each announced their planet, as their symbol appeared on their forehead, hands together around them. The room lit up and suddenly their forces seemed to pull upwards as a black light appeared in Serena's chest at the same time her Moon symbol appeared. It glowed against their own pull but suddenly it retreated as they stopped.
"It didn't work." Mina said stunned.
"I'd really hoped that would counter the –" Amara began.
"She needs the power of her scepter or the crystal…I don't know what else to do…" Michelle looked down on their Moon Princess.
"It's a seed. It really has seeded the discord of forgetfulness in her." Ami looked defeated. "And look she's not even blinking anymore."
"She's become a full fledged Seed-zombie." Rei said defeated.
"I'm going to kick those Seed-Spreader's butts for doing this to her." Lita said peeved.
"I can't allow this. Serena woke me up out of every dilemma I was in. Even when I was brainwashed she found away to get me back. I can't just give up." Darien's fist hit the bed.
Luna looked to Darien. "I don't think it's me that can awaken this blank look from her Darien. I think you need to consider what exactly about Serena's nature brought everyone back…what she did."
"Your right." Darien swallowed.
"Actually give me a minute, and before this gets any worse I have an idea." Luna said and hoped onto the balcony window. "I'll be right back."
They looked at Serena.
"So these two new enemies…they're sending out black seeds that turn people to sins?" Michelle asked.
"Almost. They seem to have one main Seed of a certain instigator of what they call "discord". That spreads out seedlings through its host. We haven't been able to see them closely because last time it returned the one of them called "Sedna"." Ami explained.
"Yea, and don't forget, Serena can heal the person but she can't destroy the seed."
"They really are darkened Scouts aren't they…" Amara speculated looking at Serena.
"Why do you say that?" Mina asked.
"Because, even against Galaxia, we saw that our powers become slightly more equalized against other scouts. If these guys are from Planets, that means their more powerful then the minor Sailors Galaxia controlled. If they're not with us it means their less powerful. But it seems that might have changed; dark energy seems to amplify powers we've never seen present. They also managed to hide in plain sight. This means there's a lot more going on here." Amara explained. Michelle nodded.
"But don't forget," Artemis started. "That same one named Sedna, she seemed to know Mercury and possibly Neptune's powers. I have a feeling their powers are derived from the same element."
"You're saying there's more of us that control water?" Michelle asked.
"Each Planet doesn't have an element, but an area within a specific category to reign." Artemis explained. "Mercury's is a combination of water, but more in the sense of its extensions; bubbles, ice, blasting. Neptune's is more of the sea itself, and the force of water, and considering her mirror it's reflective qualities."
"It's all so complex." Mina commented.
"It's also why the Moon was chosen as the center of the Guardian Scoutdom. Their powers are elite to purity, and as Moons exist, stand out the most within each planetary sky. Many Planets have Moon's so they are also strong in numbers. The Earth's Moon was the home planet of the Moons, but most of your own planets have orbiting Moons where a guardian was chosen to protect, and aid the Planets. These people were often from the Moon or gifted with different abilities at birth." Artemis explained.
"How come we've never heard this before?" Rei asked. "Because Phobos and Demos are Ravens aren't they?"
"Not all Guardians were human, just like Luna and I are not. The Planet's Leader chooses a Guardian. This is part of the way the government was back then. The Imperial Silver Millennium was a lifestyle that had been present for many years. The Earth's people have the shortest life span now, although that wasn't always true. The evils that are present now, weren't present then." Artemis sighed. "The more we remember, the more we realize times have changed. Most of the lifestyle then cannot apply now. We do believe that the core of the way things worked then was ideal, and so we knew one day the Guardian Scouts would have to be awoken. We've never come across anyone from the past like that yet, but we also wouldn't know how to awaken them like you scouts."
"And the worst part is, people who seem to have a grudge from something that happened a long time ago are outdoing us. If they were around we could use the help…or maybe they have something to do with this too." Amara pointed out.
They looked silently to Darien sitting on the edge of Serena's bed. He didn't speak. They'd already tried to talk to her. It always ended in questions. She was one of the zombies that they'd seen passing by to Darien's place; gone, and ignorant of much of anything.
Suddenly they heard Luna at the window sill.
"What did you get Luna?" Artemis asked.
They looked as she placed something beside Darien on the bed. "I remember vividly how passionate Serena was about this after you never returned and remembered. Beryl took you from her and she listened to this nightly. I think this item is a relic that might help run deepest in her heart and mind Darien." She moved it closer to him with her paw.
Darien looked at it. He'd never even thought of it, and Luna was right, it was the one thing that brought him back, and the one thing that they could remember their past by.
The Star Locket.