Chapter 7: Lights Will Guide You Home
Darien took the Locket. He opened it.
He remembered the first time he'd seen it. He'd found it in his jacket pocket the first time he'd turned into Tuxedo Mask. It had reminded him of the Princess. Even more so when Peggy Jones had solidified that in her painting, and now, even more ironic knowing what he knew now, that they'd both been chosen as models for Peggy's concepts, which where closely linked to their own past…
and then by giving it to Sailor Moon that same day he'd accidentally returned it to the one girl who'd gave it to him long ago.
He held it in his hand. "Serena, don't you remember this? You have to remember…" He slipped it into hers. Her eyes looked empty at the object.
The melody filled the room in a soothing air.
"Remember Serena, Please remember…"
...
She looked around. All she saw was darkness. Where was she? She looked to her hands? Why was she here? Where was here? What was going on?
She looked down and for a moment saw her reflection as if the blackness had become liquid.
Who was…she? Her face. It moved as she moved.
Something was missing.
Something.
Suddenly she could hear the faint sound, like twinkling lights.
Yes, twinkling lights, up in the sky. Glowing stronger to the melody. On and off.
The melody was drawing her in. A kind of celestial melody...
Faint. Delicate. Stars.
She walked forward.
The louder the melody became the more stars she saw above her.
The stars seemed familiar. She walked straight and suddenly people surrounded her.
People without faces. People she didn't know.
And yet the sky went on for days, just outside…
Outside a building…but what building? Its large arches moved past as she walked forward, the sky still twinkling.
What was this? Why was it drawing her in?
She found herself in the middle of the room. Around her people were dancing. In a rush. A dizzy rush. Pairs.
Why didn't she have a pair too? Or was she someone who was meant to be alone?
She was about to turn back towards the twinkling stars when a man, a man with a blank black face, like all the others as if it'd been cut out, took her in for a dance. He had a black …jacket and pants….a white shirt… black hair…
She heard her own lips began to hum with the tune.
So that's what her voice sounded like.
Around he spun her, with all the people. She spun past a group of seven, seven girls possibly or more? Their outfits all different colors. Short Skirts, different shades of hair, bows….but blank faces.
They all rushed by each time, faster and faster until she closed her eyes to find herself spinning out into the starlight, by the arches…a balcony maybe?
Where was she?
Where had the stars led her? Her partner was gone.
She looked to her left.
A girl. A girl with blonde hair, long ponytales, in a white gown was holding a golden…a golden…something. A star? No a trinket? And there beside her was the same man who had just spun her into this scene. Faceless. Everyone.
The melody was suddenly as loud as she'd ever heard it.
"And this…this is something to remember us by. For ever and for always. In case something happens. Until we meet again. I couldn't bare it-"
"Nothing will happen. I will make sure of it." He looked at the trinket.
"For now this moment is ours."
She listened. The girl's voice. It sounded like the voice she'd made when she was humming. She shook her head, and saw a glimpse of her own hair. Blonde. In two pigtails…she took her hands to her head. Odangos. Was she? Was she this girl? She closed her eyes and saw a ghostly face for a moment. Slated red eyes and a jagged mouth. She opened them to the scene again. She turned to look away.
She was seeing two lovers and yet she didn't feel like she was spying…it all seemed so familiar...
She closed her eyes again. But she couldn't be that girl… She was standing here…next to them…
She was alone…
Her partner must have someone like her instead.
She felt two arms around her.
She looked up to see the Tuxedoed man embracing her.
"Our moment is forever my Serenity, no matter what."
She blinked.
She was that girl.
She was in that gown.
The stars seemed so close.
Serenity.
Serenity.
Serenity.
The Melody was close. Beside her in his hand, around her grasped tight. She looked. She knew him. His face-
Blue eyes. Warm.
Stoic. Strong. Reassuring.
Like a Prince. Her Prince.
She felt his lips on hers. She closed her eyes.
Prince. Masked. Darien.
She replayed this vision in her mind. Flashes.
Those girls, in the color.
The faces. Her friends. Rei. Mars. Leta. Jupiter. Ami. Mercury. Mina. Venus. Michelle. Neptune. Amara. Uranus. The others…Luna….Artemis…Saturn...Pluto...
She was on the Moon. She was Serenity. Moon Princess. Serena. Sailor Moon.
This was her past...
Falling, falling into her mind, into place...
Faces, she knew, faces she knows, returning- to the hum of a twinkling melody-
...
Darien held her after he'd kissed her. The girls stayed quiet in anticipation. The glow of the Locket on the couple's faces.
"Look! Her Crest!" Luna exclaimed.
Keeping her in his arms, he looked between Serena's blank eyes: The Moon Symbol.
It glowed bright, and suddenly the blinding white light, seemed to be fighting against a dark glow from her chest.
Darien grasped the Locket. The melody of the Locket was still humming loudly in the background. "Come on Serena." He urged.
The seed slowly glowed against her body, as her head pulled back and her Moon symbol glowed brighter. It rose out from her chest slowly.
"Be ready. If this works, we need to catch that seed." Artemis said quietly.
Suddenly a bright flash filled the room. And the Seed escaped her chest, and Lita caught it in a vase, spilling the red roses onto the ground in Darien's bedroom.
"Good catch." Mina said impressed.
"You can't be a good fighter if you're not quick on your feet. Hm." Lita said recovering, looking rather irked at the catch.
"I hate to say it but a vase isn't going to hold it well." Amara said.
"Shh. Serena's waking up I think." Michelle shushed her.
"Serena!" Darien said.
Her eyes slowly faded back to normal. She blinked.
"Darien?" She said absently. "That song…"
She looked to see the Star Locket.
"It always brings us back together doesn't it?" Darien said giving it back to her, holding her hand tight.
"Mhm. I remembered, the past…the Locket, that night….the night I gave it to you…" She looked up to him, and saw the same blue eyes she saw staring down at her that night on the Moon.
"You really scared us Serena…you couldn't remember any of us. You were some amnesic zombie on a bed… you really need to improve your memory you know." Rei scolded.
"I'm sorry. But it was all of you that brought me back." She said meekly.
"Oh Serena, you'll never change." Luna said.
"What's are you doing with that?" Serena looked to Lita who had the Seed trapped like a cockroach under a cup.
"We need a jar. Can someone get one from the kitchen?" Lita said.
"Second cupboard on the right." Darien said.
"We caught your seedling Serena. I just don't know how easy it will be to study." Ami explained.
"But our first action should be paying those two Sailor-Pains a visit." Rei said.
"I don't even want to call them scouts." Lita said carefully exchanging the Seed from the vase to the jar with Amara's help. "They don't deserve it."
"Now that you're back Serena, we can. I'm sure that girl they took hold of would be happy to get back to finishing her classes too." Michelle added.
"I'm game to see what their up to. Plus we out number them." Amara added.
"We all need to make sure we don't get hit though." Ami said. "Forgetfulness isn't uncommon. It's probably an easy one to spread. It will be interesting to see what kind of energy these feed off of…"
"I don't want to have to deal with this again. Nobody should." Darien looked from the Serena to the scouts.
"That's right. All the people that got turned are dealing with the same thing Serena is." Rei nodded.
"Which also means it shouldn't be hard to find them if the town is going Ghost again." Lita crossed her arms.
"Are you going to be okay Serena?" Michelle asked.
"I should be now." She sat up. "I guess I just need to work on my memory a little more…"
"Might make up for all those missed scout meetings when you "forgot" to come and went to the arcade…" Rei dug.
"Don't be so righteous!" Serena pouted.
"I think it's about time you scouts got going. Just make sure that you guys are on your game this time and don't get hit by those crystals." Artemis said.
"We'll start to investigate this star seed but it might only last until you guys defeat them." Luna paced around the jar.
"Here, keep my computer Luna. Use it to scan and research it." Ami took out her hand-held.
"Thank you Ami, now go scouts before it's too late." Artemis said.