Chapter 4

Serena rubbed her head in pain. She opened her eyes and looked around the room. The other girls were on the floor, in Rei's room.

"What just happened?" Amy asked

Serena turned to Amy. "I'm not sure this is right but it might have something to do with this creepy guy who was looking in Rei's back window."

Serena stood up and balanced herself as she walked towards the door. She walked out the door and outside of the temple. A guy was outside of the temple, punching the ground. A crack was running from his hand to the temple.

I have to do something, Serena thought.

She was about to duck behind a bush, but then something caught her eye. She froze.

No. It can't be, Serena thought.

But it was.

Mederson. He was punching the ground right in front of Serena. Serena was shocked for a moment.

She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. Until Mederson stopped punching. Stopped looking down. He looked up. Right into Serena's eyes.

Serena noticed something in his eyes. It wasn't anything like what was in her friends eyes or Darien's eyes or even Luna and Artemis's eyes. It was something she had never seen before. A mix of anger. Anger and pure evil. Serena frowned at him.

"Stop it!" she said before stopping to think.

Mederson was shocked. For a moment. Then he burst out into laughing. Not a playful laugh or a that's-so-funny laugh. A cackle. Mixed with sarcasm.

"What are YOU gonna do, you little girl?" Mederson swiped his hand in front of Serena, then made a fist and moved it to the side.

Suddenly, Serena was swept of the ground and into a bush. Her ankle was cut and bleeding. She got scratched across the face with a branch. Serena sat up and hid behind a bush.

"Where are you? We are not playing hide and seek. We're playing destroy the stuck up snob!" Mederson yelled.

Serena crawled to the nearest tree, being sure to stay low, and looked for Mederson. He was trying to look for Serena in the bushes.

Good luck, she thought.

Serena checked one last time before grabbing onto a branch and heaving herself up. She claimed as high as she could until she was inside the leaves. Serena peeked out of the trees. Mederson was still looking in the bushes. Serena sat against the trunk and let out a breath that she realized she'd been holding in the whole time she was hiding.

Serena examined her ankle. The blood was starting to dry. Serena ripped a leaf of the tree. She wrapped it around her ankle. Then she grabbed a small vine and tied it on. Serena moved a few leafs and peeked through. Mederson was no where to be found. Serena started taking deep breaths. She closed the leafs. Then turned around to check if he had gotten behind the tree. Instead she came face to face with familiar eyes. A light shade of red with evil written all over them.

Mederson.

"Looking for someone?" Mederson asked.

Serena suddenly felt a tightening around her waist. She looked down and gasped. Vines were tangled all around her.

"Let me go!" Serena screamed.

Mederson pulled Serena down from the tree. He put her close to his face. He tightly grabbed her chin so she couldn't turn away.

"Foolish girl. Mess with me once, shame on you. Mess with me twice.." Mederson smiled, a creepy and devilish smile, "You don't want to know." Mederson started unraveling her vines. Around and around Serena went until she was all unraveled and very dizzy. Everything was spinning and going by in a blur.

First Serena's pin fell out of her pocket. Then Mederosn picked it up. And after that...well Serena didn't remember very well. But she did remember her knees getting wobbly. Then she lost her balance. Then...well then everything went pitch black.

Later...

Serena squinted her eyes. She saw little light. She opened her eyes and sat up slowly. The only person in the room was Lita. She was pacing around the room, biting her thumbnail. When she looked at Serena she sighed with relief and walked over to me. She hugged me really tight.

"Thank goodness your ok!" Lita exclaimed. She kept hugging tighter and tighter.

"Can't...breathe...Lita," Serena managed to gulp out.

Lita let go and looked at her, a glimpse of worry in her eyes. "Sorry! I'll be back." Lita walked out of the room.

Serena looked at the bed she was in. It looked like she was in Rei's bed. She layed back in the pillow, nice and relaxed. Then the memories started catching up to her tired brain.

Mederson.

Her pin.

Darkness.

The bushes.

It all came back to Serena. She didn't feel so relaxed anymore. She started to panic.

What will the girls think? Will they think I'm irresponsible? Will they be mad?

Serena's thoughts were interrupted by the door opening, revealing all the girls. They ran over to Serena and started firing questions at her and examining her.

Mina whistled. "Girls! Why don't we let Serena talk?" Everyone turned to Serena

Serena gulped. "Well...to make it shorter..." Serena took a deep breath. "I saw Mederson and he was punching the ground and making a crack so I tried to tell him to stop but he threw me in the bushes-that's how i got the scratches- and then I crawled to a tree and climbed it and hid but he found me and wrapped me up in vines. Then he unraveled me really fast so I was really dizzy and I was down from the tree. In fact I was so dizzy that my pin-with the silver imperium crystal- feel out of my pocket and he stole it and then everything went black." Serena took a deep breath and looked at all the girls.

"That was the short version?" Rei asked

Amy hit her lightly. "If he's from the megaverse, it's even more trouble than if he wasn't from the megaverse. We must get it back!"

Serena took the blanket off her and sat at the edge of the bed. She saw Luna and Artemis listening from their spot on the ground. She looked back at her friends. They were looking at her, waiting for her to make her move. Looking at all of them made fresh tears burn in the back of her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I just put more stress on you guys. Amy stresses about her grades. Rei stresses about the temple and her grandpa. Lita stresses about cooking and her grades. And Mina stresses about looking perfect. And we all stress about sailor business. But I don't have to stress about that anymore. But of course when one thing is lifted, another drops down. I'm sorry." Serena ran for the open door. She ignored her friends calling her back. She just ran. Out of the temple. Out of her friends hair.

All she did was put stress on them and she was done with it. Done. She didn't care about the pin or getting it back. She would just cause more stress.

A stress giver. That's what I am, Serena thought.

She dropped on her knees, too weak to keep running. She was behind a closed store. She looked around. No one. She was abandoned. Good. She let the tears spill out of her eyes. She sobbed hard, yet quiet. Serena was a quieter crier. She saw a puddle of tears form next to her knee. The moonlight made her tears shine. Serena looked at the moon. The scouts would do great without her. They had strong, beautiful powers. Her Sailor Moon days were over.

"Are you ok?" a familiar voice said.

No no no! Why why why?!

"Go away, Darien," Serena sniffed, "I'm not in the mood."

Darien walked to face Serena. "I...heard about the crystal."

Serena swallowed.

Don't let him see, Serena thought.

But she did let him see. She started sobbing again. But this time, she was against a warm, friendly body. She felt protected. That's what she had to get used to know. She didn't protect people anymore. Serena is protected now. She will never be able to protect again. Serena glanced at the moon, a tear rolling down her cheek and getting caught in the moonlight.

Never.

Thank you so much for reading chapter 4. I hope you can catch the next chapter. Review please! Peace out!

-Sailor Jupiter11