Serena sat heavily into a small-overstuffed chair in her apartment. She was tired and hungry, but she didn't want to stand on her feet again.
She had done it.
After almost two years, she had managed to nab a great job, get her own apartment, and make friends who accepted her for who she was. She felt great. She dressed how she wanted to, ate what she wanted, even did the things she wanted without Luna yelling at her, or the scouts looking disappointed. She lead a normal life, had gossip sessions, ate unhealthy food, hated her boss, got angry at her friends, and even had a cat that didn't have the nasty habit of talking back, which was a relief in its own way. She sometimes missed the others, but all in all, she was happier than she had been since she had found out that she was a super-hero.
After she had left Japan, it seemed like her life would only get worse. She had nowhere to go, and she didn't know anyone, either, but she didn't give up. She worked hard to get a job in America, under an alias, of course. She had gotten a small apartment shortly afterwards, and had progressed to an even larger apartment, and got some things she had always wanted, that Luna would never have allowed. She had an entire wall of manga, which Luna would have had a fit over, but that Serena was proud of.
Sometimes, she thought about writing the others, but knew that they would find her if she did. And she was proud of her life as it was. It wasn't glamorous like being a princess had been, but she had earned it, without the help of the others, and for that alone she was proud of it.
She stood and looked into the mirror. She looked different than she had when she had been the Princess of Tokyo. The baby fat that she had once carried was gone. Her face had matured. She had high cheekbones, pale skin, and the freckles on her nose and cheeks had finally vanished. Her eyes and nose were still the same. She was taller than she had been; she had had her final growth spurt and stood at five feet eight inches. Her figure had developed more fully, it wasn't shaped like a slightly curvy board as it had been, but now there were definite curves. She was still thin, too thin to ever have a true hourglass figure but she thought she looked good. She had cut her hair shortly before leaving for the United States, which ended up being a blessing because about two weeks later the commercials, flyers, and bulletins had started announcing the disappearance of the worlds most famous princess. Her hair now hung in a graceful cascade of gold down her back to end at her waist.
Serena wondered, at first, if it had taken them that long to find out she was missing, but had finally decided she didn't care. They were furiously looking for her, the reward for her return or knowledge of her whereabouts was climbing to steep amounts by the Japanese government. The whole world seemed to be waiting for her to return with baited breath.
Serena had a strong feeling that some of her new friends had looked at her and wondered whether she was the princess, given her 'uncanny resemblance,' but they never figured out that she really was the princess. She had even worked hard to lose the gracelessness of her past, and while she was still clumsy, she was nowhere close to being as awkward as she had been. Mostly, she knew, they daydreamed that they would be the ones to find the princess and get the reward money. Everyone seemed to want the reward.
There had even been fake Serena's taken to the Crystal Palace, only to be thrown out in disgrace. 'Serena Sightings' were so popular that they far outnumbered the old 'Elvis Sightings' of the past. At first, when the sightings became popular, Serena laughed at the stupidity of the people who were trying to get noticed, but she ended up taking it as an insult as time went on. Finally, she had given up listening to the news reports about her altogether. And they were becoming more rare as time passed.
The doorbell rang, bringing her out of her reverie, and she quickly went to the door. A glance through the eyehole announced the arrival of a close friend. She threw the door open, and hugged her friend. The girl that entered Serena's apartment reminded Serena of Molly. The differences were innumerable, but the effect was still there. She had short permed black hair instead of the bright orange that was Molly's, black eyes to Molly's green ones, and tanned skin compared to Molly's milky white. Serena suppressed a pang of sorrow at the memory of Molly, and smiled warmly at the girl in front of her.
"Hey, Lily. I thought you would have been here an hour ago, what took so long?" Serena asked moving aside to let the girl enter. The girl frowned at her.
"You haven't heard?" She asked, perching on the chair that Serena had just vacated.
"Heard what?" Serena inquired as she closed the door. "Want something to drink?
"Sure." The other girl replied. Serena went into her tiny kitchen and grabbed two cans of soda from the fridge. She handed one to Lily then sat on another chair.
"So what's going on?" Serena asked her, opening her can and taking a swig of the caffeinated drink.
"Well, I'm late because they had a big bulletin on the news." Lily stated leaning back in the chair and sipping her soda thoughtfully. "It seems that peace talks in Japan have been suspended indefinitely." She paused, and Serena frowned. "Someone is attacking the representatives from the other countries, and their governments are worried about loosing people so they wont send anyone as replacements." She shook her head. "Seven reps have been attacked, all are comatose in the New Tokyo General Hospital. The doctors said that they were extremely low on blood."
"Wow. That's really strange." Serena said thinking quickly.
"Yeah, well the worst part is that Prince Darien was attacked and almost killed three nights ago. He's sharing the same symptoms of the other reps."
"W-what?" Serena asked, her heart stopping.
Lily took Serena's worried face as one of interest and went on, "Yeah, he's in critical condition in the hospital. Japan says that they have Special Forces working on it. The four bodyguards of the Prince were also attacked, but they aren't as bad off as the Prince is. Course, I don't think that they are really his bodyguards."
Serena disregarded the comment, "What else has happened? Anything else of interest? Any suspects?"
"No one has seen the attacker. Or at least the ones that got a good look are in comas. And they upped the reward on the missing princess again. I'm surprised that they think she's still alive." Lily said casually. Serena nodded, not really listening. Darien is in trouble, and the Scouts have been attacked. She thought.
"Are the bodyguards in comas, too?"
"No. But they didn't see the attacker. They were banged up really bad, and told the reporter that they needed the Princess back, now that the Prince is unconscious." Serena nodded. They wanted Sailor Moon, not the princess. She told herself.
Serena changed the subject, her mind on the attacks, and they spent two hours talking about Serena's boss, actually verbally bashing Serena's boss, and other things of interest, though Serena silently urged Lily to hurry, so that she could think.
When the girl left, Serena went to her bedroom and dug a box out of the bottom of her closet. She set it on the edge of her bed and opened it. On top of the clothes that she had taken with her from the palace sat a long rectangular box, which she picked up. After she opened it, she sat on her bed, staring at the Moon Wand. Memories flooded her mind. The memory of the last night she had spent in the Crystal Palace hung vividly in the middle of all the other memories.
If she went back, they would stop her from returning to the life that she had so carefully built around herself. If she didn't…
Somehow Serena knew that what was happening in New Tokyo wasn't likely to go away just because she wanted it to. She shoved the wand back into the box and put it inside a drawer in her nightstand. Then she grabbed the box on the foot of her bed and put it back into the closet.
She climbed into bed and stayed awake throughout the night.