Chapter 6- The Truth is Out

Serena sighed impatiently and looked at the clock. She hadn't gotten a chance to call to her friends after she got home last night, she hadn't been able to grab Lita and Amy before school started that morning, and she hadn't been able to find them at lunch. They had agreed to meet up after school though, so there was no way she could miss them. Good thing to, because she really needed to talk to them.

Briiiiiiing!
"Finally!" she said under her breath. She jumped up and grabbed her bag.

Beep-Beep

"Now what?" she groaned, grabbing her communicator. Mina's face appeared on the screen.

"What's up Mina?" she asked as she shuffled out of her class.

"Something's going on downtown", she said, looking around, "I'm gonna go check it out"
"Okay", Serena nodded, "I'll grab Lita and Amy and we'll meet you down there"
"It's okay, I already called them", she shrugged, "See ya in a few"

The screen went blank. I have a bad feeling about this, Serena though, stowing her communicator away, I'd better get down there quick

She took off down the school hallway, looking around for Amy and Lita as she ran. They were nowhere to be found though. They must have already left, Serena thought as she ran out of the school building, I have to get downtown, and quick! If the problem is what I think it is, I have to put an end to it. Now!

She was running as fast as she could down the street, which for her, wasn't that fast. Okay, so Luna's right, she thought, panting, I do have to work out more. I just hope I'm not too late

"Mercury Bubbles Flash!" a stream of bubbles shot out of Amy's hands at Shadow. She smirked and dodged easily.

"Oh look, a bubble bath", she scoffed, "Call me when you're ready to really fight Mercury"

Isn't there anyway to stop her? Amy thought desperately, Where's Sailor Moon, we're in trouble here!

"I don't see you doing too great a job yourself!" Lita snapped at Shadow. It was true, all she had done so far was jump and dodge everything they shot at her. Still, Amy had the feeling that wasn't all she could do.

"You want a real fight Jupiter?" Shadow asked, "Fine, you'll be sorry. Mars Fire Ignite!"
A giant fireball formed on her hand and shot at Lita who jumped out of the way. The fireball hit the spot where she had been standing mere seconds before.

"What in the world…" Mina said slowly, "That's Sailor Mars's attack!"
"Very good Venus", Shadow said scathingly, "And now for the bonus—"
"I'll give you a bonus!" Lita yelled suddenly, "Jupiter Thunder—"
"STOP!" Amy jumped a mile and looked around. Serena was standing a few feet away, double over and gasping for breath, "Don't…hurt…her", she panted.
"Have you lost your mind?" Lita asked, "Why in the world not?"

"Rei…it's Rei!"

"Rei…it's Rei!"
The words rang like bells in Mina's ears. "R-Rei?" she stuttered. Her head snapped around to face Shadow, who was smirking.

"Don't let anyone ever call you stupid Meatball Head", she said, "They're way off"

"It is Rei!" Lita and Amy yelled at the same time.

"What are you doing Rei?" Mina asked in shock. She couldn't believe it was their friend, their fellow Sailor Scout, who had been pounding on them this whole time.

"Just doing what I was told to do", she said, "Got a problem with that?"
"You're fighting your friends!" Lita yelled, "How could you do this to us?"
"It's easier than you think"

"That's not what I meant!" Lita said angrily, "We're your friends, or have you forgotten?"
"Oh please", Rei scoffed, "You're no friends of mine"
That stung pretty hard. How could she do this to us? Mina thought, How could she just turn us without so much as a second thought about it? And why? Why would she just leave us like this?

"How could you say we're not no your friends?" Serena asked, her voice shaking, "After everything we've been through--"
"That doesn't count", she said at once, "We were brought together by destiny. If we weren't Sailor Scouts none of us would have ever met, face it"

"But we're still friends…"
"Oh please", Rei scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Serena you're even more pathetic than I thought. Why don't we just get this over with now, shall we?"

"What are you—yah!"

"Serena!" Lita, Mina, and Amy yelled at the same time as the blonde girl was blasted backwards. "Don't hurt her Rei!" Lita yelled, scrambling up.

"Why not?" Rei asked, turning to face her and the others, "Who's going to stop me? You? I don't think so. Mars Fire Ignite!"

A fireball slammed the ground in front of Lita, Mina, and Amy, and threw them backwards. Mina groaned as she pulled herself up. Out of time, she thought desperately, "Rei no!"

She'd turned back to Serena, "Take off the head", she said smoothly, "And the rest will fall. Say goodnight Moon Brat. Mars Fire—"

Serena cringed and tried to move away, but she was cornered.

"No!"

And then…Rei stopped. No reason, no any apparent cause. No one had tried to attack her. She'd just…frozen. A weird look overtook her face, and she fell backwards, shaking her head. "Serena, run!" Lita yelled, but the girl didn't budge. She was looking up at Rei attentively.

"Rei, are you okay?" she asked carefully. Rei's eyes snapped open and she looked around.

"Mind your own business", she snapped, "looks like we're putting a pause on this fight, don't worry though, I'll be back"
She disappeared with a sharp crack.

"You blew it", Azumi said furiously, "You had the Moon girl right where you wanted her, and you backed off! What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing", Rei snapped.

"And not to mention letting them find out who are", the girl continued in a rage, "This could blow all our plans right out of the water you know. They could tell everyone who you are!"
"If they tell anyone who I am", Rei said silkily, "I'll tell everyone who they are. Simple as that"

"Do you think they'll figure that out?" Azumi asked.

"They're smarter than you think, ya know. Serena's smarter than I thought", Rei added, "Either that or she just notices things. One of the two"

"I hope you know how you're going to fix this", Azumi said accusingly, "Dear, dear, Kejano won't like this. You may even lose your job over it"
"Don't get your hopes up", Rei snapped, standing up, "This is still my mission, don't forget that"

"And why would I?"
"Oh give me a break", she rolled her eyes, "I know you've been nosing around, waiting for me to mess up, I'm not dumb"
"Well you messed up big time today", she shot back, "You'll be lucky if you don't get taken off the mission for it"
"Why would you be put on?" Rei asked suddenly, "Do you know why this is my mission and not yours? Because I know more about the Sailor Scouts than you could ever hope to know. I know their strengths, weakness, and every which way to mess with their heads. I can tell you exactly how each one of them would handle a different situation. This is my job because I know the Scouts best. Don't forget that"

"Oh I would never even think of forgetting something so important"
"Get over yourself", Rei snapped, turning to leave, "I'm out of here"
"You'd better figure out a way to remedy this situation", Azumi said, "And quick too"

Rei didn't even bother to answer. She turned to glare at Azumi and teleported away.

"Rei…" Lita said slowly, "I can't believe it. I can't believe Rei's the one that's been pushing us around the whole time, how could she?"

The girls were over at Serena's house. Each of them were lost in their own thoughts, all trying to think of reasons why Rei would betray them.
"It just doesn't make sense", Mina said suddenly, "Why, why, why did she do this to us? How could she? We're supposed to be friends!"
"Obviously she doesn't feel too friendly towards us right now", Amy said, "What could we have done?"
"Do you think she got mad because we were snooping?" Serena asked.

"That doesn't give her the grounds to attack us", Lita said, "And besides we always snoop, that'll never change"
"Good point"

"It has to be something", Mina said, "Maybe we should try and confront her"
"What good will that do, she'll attack!" Serena said forcefully.

"Not if we do it out in the open, she'd blow herself out of the water as well as us", Lita said, catching on.

"Right", Mina said, standing up, "I say we go for it. What do we have to lose?"
"A limb or five", Serena said sarcastically, standing up, "Lets go"

They made their way to the temple, discussing what they were going to say to Rei when they got there.

"No one around", Mina said as they made their way up the temple stairs, "Is that good or bad?"
"Grandpa and Chad are still inside", Lita pointed out, "And there's Rei. Rei!"

The girl's head snapped around, a look of annoyance on her face. Lita took off down the street after her, and came to halt in front of her. Amy, Mina, and Serena caught up with her, and surrounded Rei. She was trapped. "What do you want?" she said threateningly.

"Give it a rest Rei", Lita snapped, "You wouldn't be dumb enough to start a fight in the middle of the street, would you?"
The words caught Rei. She glared at the Sailor Scouts for a second and finally just said, "Fine. Now what do you want?"

"We want to know why one day you're our friend and the next day you're pounding us into the ground!" Lita said angrily.

"I have my reasons", she said silkily, "Now can I go?"
"That isn't good enough", Mina said. Rei whirled around to face her.

"You're in the wrong spot Scouts", she said carefully, "You have no idea what your up against"
"FYI Rei, we've fought all kinds of evil", Serena said.

"And we've won to", Amy added, "So if you want to start reconsider which side you're really on, now is the perfect time"
"The tide has turned girls", Rei said, smirking, "You're in way over your heads"
"We'll just see about that", Lita shot back, "You picked the wrong side Rei"
"And you picked the losing side", with out another word she shoved past them and made her way down the street. They didn't try to stop her.