Sailor See, Sailor Die - Chapter Six
A Fic Challenge Response by Una Moonstar
Original ANs: I am dedicating this to Ely, for posting the challenge that inspired the fic in the first place and having the patience to wait for me to get off my butt and finish it, and QS, for loving this story like only she can and telling me so. You guys have been great!
Oh, and to remind everyone, here are the fic challenge ingredients: 600 tennis balls, an empty swimming pool, a jar of honey, a sheep, and, of course, Tuxedo Kamen (Mask in my case). Can you figure out (and more importantly, can you remember...) where each of these items appeared in this fic? -snicker- I don't have a prize in mind for the right answers, but feel free to write me and let me know what your guesses are anyway.
New ANs: I am so sorry it has taken me so long to update this! I honestly never intended to make you all wait - I lost my internet for a while and have been caught up in rehearsals for a play I'm in that's going to a competition February 9th through the 11th. Eek! I'm so nervous and excited! Anyway, here it is - the final chapter of Sailor See, Sailor Die! Enjoy - and tell me what you think!
(fade out...)
(begin chapter...)
"We have to keep looking," Darien said, his eyes squeezed shut in frustration. "I can't believe that they just disappeared into thin air."
"But who did this?" Raye asked, her snippy tone ineffectively covering up her fear.
"I don't know!" the ebony-haired young man snapped back. "I just don't know! I don't have all the answers!"
"Some leader you turned out to be!" Raye cried, tears beginning to form in her violet orbs.
"Who do you think I am? Sherlock Holmes? Hercule Poirot? One of the Hardy Boys maybe? I'm not, Raye! My name is Darien Shields and I'm stuck in the middle of a mansion where all the guests are disappearing or dead! And believe it or not I'm just as scared as you are! I don't want to die! And I sure as hell don't want Serena to die! That's the most important thing right now and I don't know if I can stop it from happening!" With that, he spun on his heel, the motion nearly blowing out his candle, and stormed into the drawing room, slamming the door behind him.
"Darien, wait!" Serena cried, rushing off after him.
"Way to go, Raye," Lita said with irritation in her tone once the four girls were alone in the foyer.
"Why did you have to go off on him? He's done a wonderful job of keeping us together so far. It's not his fault that things keep happening," Mina added.
"You really were far too harsh on him," Amy murmured.
"I know," the raven-haired priestess said softly, her eyes trained on the closed double doors of the drawing room. "I'm scared, I'm so very scared, and I took it out on Darien, probably because he was the man in charge. I know it wasn't fair of me. I know it wasn't right. And I know I should apologize. You're right; he's done a wonderful job. Everyone would have completely lost it last night if it hadn't been for him." She paused as she swallowed the growing lump in her throat. "And the fact that he wants to protect Serena just wins all the more brownie points in my book. I know all that."
"So why aren't you doing anything about it?" Mina asked gently.
Raye gave a short laugh. "I'm afraid he won't forgive me."
(fade out...)
(scene change...)
"Darien?" Serena said softly as she closed the door behind her and stepped into the oddly dark drawing room. "Are you in here?"
"You should go back out with the other girls," a familiar voice, seemingly muffled, said from the direction of the overstuffed couch. "I'm sure they'll be much more capable of protecting you."
"I don't know about that," the petite blonde replied, staying exactly where she was. "I'd say you've done a good job so far."
There was a derisive snort. "Safety in numbers, Serena. That's the ploy we've been using since this started. And obviously it stopped working since Eli is gone. Just go."
"Darien, I'm not leaving you alone to be the next victim."
"Why not? I'm worthless. Raye had a point - some leader I turned out to be. There are six people left out of an original thirteen. I'm not even batting five hundred."
"Raye is scared, Darien. She tends to lash out when she's scared, usually at the person who's supposed to be in charge. I'm willing to bet money she's regretting her words even as we speak, on top of the fact that the others are probably giving her a hard time about it. You've been wonderful so far. I'm sure everyone would have panicked last night if you hadn't taken charge as effectively as you did. And you kept everyone on track today as well. You can't blame yourself for not having solved the mystery. We were all supposed to be working on it together. So if anyone's to blame it would be all of us."
"Well, that doesn't bring back the others, now does it?"
Serena's jaw set as her temper started to rise. Why wouldn't he just let her comfort him, damn it? "Well, neither does you wallowing in self-pity! All that does is give this killer another victim! And I won't have it! I won't lose you, damn it! I won't!" She blew out her candle and stepped carefully to the couch where she thought his voice was coming from.
"Serena?" Darien called, sitting up slightly once the light had gone out. He hadn't heard the door open or close... "Serena, are you still there?"
The unexpected response to his words was the sudden pressure of her lips on his as she took his face in her hands and kissed him. "Do you honestly think I can let you go now that I've found you?" she said once she pulled away slightly. "You haven't failed me or anyone else here. This isn't over yet. We still have a chance. We haven't found any bodies, so the odds are that everyone is still alive but being held somewhere. We just have to find out where. But that chance is gone if you give up." She moved her hands from his cheeks to his shoulders, squeezing them in a comforting gesture.
Darien quickly wrapped the girl up in a tight embrace. "How is it that you can make me believe you?" he asked into her shoulder. "It's usually so much easier to accept the worst, but somehow I can't around you."
Serena giggled slightly. "Well, that's a good thing. You have to keep trying for the best or it will never happen."
Before the young man could respond, one of the doors to the room opened and four candle-carrying figures stepped inside. "Serena? Darien? Are you guys alright?" Mina called.
At the sound of the pale blonde's voice Darien let go of Serena and sat up completely, turning slightly to face the newcomers as the petite blonde rose to her feet. "Yeah, we're fine. Just talking."
"Darien, I want to apologize. I said stuff I shouldn't have, that I didn't mean. I'm just scared and nervous and you were an easy target. Please forgive me. You've been a great leader." Raye bit her lower lip as she waited for his response.
He smiled. "You're forgiven. I can understand the feeling." The priestess gave him a shaky smile in return.
"Now we should really work together and look for where whoever is doing this is hiding the people he or she snatched. We haven't found any bodies so my guess is they're still alive." Serena gave the group an optimistic grin.
"That's a logical conclusion," Amy agreed.
"We're going to all stick together now, aren't we?" Lita asked nervously. "I don't think I want to break off into pairs or threesomes."
"No, I think we should all stick together now," Darien said, confidence back in his tone. "It'll be harder to grab any of us if there are going to be five other people ready to pounce on the grabber."
A crash of thunder shook the building, reminding everyone of the storm that still raged on outside. Serena shuddered. "I hate thunderstorms."
"Well, at least you seem to be taking this one better than you usually do," Amy said encouragingly.
"That probably has something to do with the fact that I'm more scared of something else right now." The petite blonde shrugged.
"Well, we'll all be together now. Why don't we get moving? We'll cover the downstairs first then move upstairs, checking each room as carefully as we can. Be on the lookout for secret doors and panels."
The girls nodded at Darien's instructions, and the six of them started looking around the room they were in after lighting Serena and Darien's candles from the ones already lit. Once they were finished with the drawing room, they moved on to the dining room. It didn't take long before they were examining the nooks and crannies in the kitchen and pantry. They then moved across the hall into the library.
They had spread out along the shelves, a few of them pulling random books in hope that it would reveal a secret door. "So what kind of title do you guys think a book that's a lever for a secret door would have?" Mina asked from the shelf to the right of the still-covered picture window.
"Please Pull Me?" Lita offered with a smirk from the other side of the window.
"How to Hide a Secret Passage?" Serena said with a giggle from her place along the wall opposite the double doors. Darien turned from his examination of the shelves in the corner and smiled at her.
"Oh, please," Raye said from the shelves on the same wall as the doors. "Those titles are about as corny as Kingsly's."
"Personally I think a book like that would have a very subtle hint as a title," Amy said from the wall across from the window, the group having pulled the round table away from the wall before they began the search.
"Like The Secret Garden?" Serena asked as she examined one of the bronze busts that took up space periodically on the shelves.
"Exactly," Amy approved. Her eyes fell on the book mentioned. "Well, well, well."
"What is it, Ames?" Lita asked.
"I found..."
The blue-haired genius was cut off by a sharp crack mixed with a loud rumble of thunder. In the midst of all the noise, the candles all went out thanks to a mysterious gust of wind that swirled through the room. The blondes screamed, and Darien found himself with his arms full of a certain Meatball Head. Finally the room was quiet, the only sound to be heard the harsh breathing of the people in the room. "Is everyone okay?" Darien asked once he managed to pry Serena away slightly.
"Just light the candles and we'll see," Raye said quickly, not even bothering to hide her nervousness, her voice coming from the area around the window.
Three distinct scrapes were heard and then one by one the candles were lit. Darien and Serena stood huddled together in the corner the young man had been looking in, Mina stood alone in the corner closest to where she had last been seen, and Raye and Lita were standing close together next to the window. No light came from where Amy had been.
"Amy?" Serena called. "Are you okay? Did you lose your matches?"
Darien led her to where he suspected the blue-haired girl should be, and everyone gasped. The genius was nowhere to be found.
"Amy!" Raye yelled. "No!"
"Where is she?" Lita cried, starting to panic.
"Okay, okay, girls, calm down," Darien said quickly, wrapping his arms around Serena, who had thrown herself at him and started to cry. "We won't be able to do anything for Amy if we lose our cool."
"He's right, guys," Mina agreed shakily, her eyes wild. "We need to stay calm to find Amy. She'd do it for us."
"Of course she would. Her element is ice," Lita refuted.
"That's enough, guys," Serena said through her sniffles, attempting to stop her tears. "We just need to keep looking. Think of it this way - Amy's found the others." She gave the rest a small smile.
Darien squeezed her. Her ability to bounce back always amazed him. "Serena's right. We should keep looking. But could you guys look outside the window and find out what made all the extra racket?"
Lita and Raye did as requested and whistled. "Wow, guys. It looks like a bolt of lightning hit an old tree out there. I bet that's what all the noise was." The tall brunette brought her head out from under the drapes and grinned, her emerald green eyes sparkling.
"Definitely lightning," Raye concurred as she brought her head out as well. "You can see the charring along the ground and the edges of the fallen tree."
Darien nodded. "That explains that then. Let's get moving."
The five of them then moved on to the study next door. "This place is a disaster area," Raye said as the quintet spread across the room as they had the one before.
"We didn't think we should disturb the scene. This is where Mr. Doyle was taken from, you know," Serena explained.
"So where were you two in your search when that happened again?" Lita asked, moving over to where a flash of lightning showed a glass-doored cabinet against the wall the door was on.
"We were just outside, actually. We had just finished our circuit," Darien said, grateful the dark hid his blush as he remembered exactly what he and Serena were doing at that time.
"So you weren't doing anything else?" Mina asked slyly as she made her way to the wall opposite the door to check out the selection of framed pictures and certificates hung there.
"Why would we be doing anything else?" Serena asked innocently, blushing furiously as she and Darien began to sort through the mess that used to be the desk in the center of the room.
"That has got to be one of the dumbest questions I've ever heard you ask, Meatball Head," Raye said, shaking her head and smirking as she began to examine the pictures and paneling along the right hand wall opposite the window. "Oh, hey, there are candle sconces on the wall over here."
"Are there candles?" Lita asked a bit distractedly as she found the keys to the cabinet on top of the piece of furniture.
"No, oddly enough. But the picture in the middle of the wall is crooked. That annoys me..." Her voice trailed off as she started to reach for the ornate oak frame.
Thunder echoed through the night once again, a long, loud extended roll that shook everyone and everything to their foundations. Again a unexplained gust of wind swirled through the room, blowing out the candles and plunging the group into darkness. And again the blondes screamed and Serena jumped into Darien's arms. He was prepared for it this time, however. "Candle check, girls," the ebony-haired young man called out once he put Serena down next to him.
Once again three distinct scrapes were heard and then three pinpoints of light were seen. Darien lit Serena's candle and looked around. Lita stood slightly shaken by the cabinet, Mina stood biting her lower lip against the wall she had been looking over, and there was no sign of Raye.
"Raye? You need someone to light your candle?" Serena called out, finding it odd that the priestess hadn't already demanded one of the others do just that.
Mina gulped and stepped over to where the raven-haired girl had last been seen and again everyone gasped. Raye was gone.
"Okay, that's it," Lita said in a barely-controlled panic. "I am never watching another horror movie again!"
"Breathe, Lita," Darien said quickly. "You can't afford to lose it now."
"Raye and Amy need us," Serena said tearfully, gripping the arm Darien didn't have the candle at the end of. He looked down at her, proud she was keeping her cool as well as could be expected.
"Right," Mina said shakily. "We... we should keep looking then. They're obviously not here."
"That makes sense. Let's get moving, girls," Darien said gently but firmly.
The foursome did as instructed and headed for the foyer. "Do we really need to go over the entryway again?" Serena asked once they reached the base of the marble staircase. "I think we searched pretty thoroughly while we were waiting for the others earlier."
Darien nodded. "I agree. Why don't we make our way upstairs then?"
"Sure, lead the way," Lita said, having regained at least part of her composure. Mina nodded her agreement.
The clump of them slowly walked up the stairs, and paused on the landing. "Hey, what happened to the table that was here?" Serena asked, looking around puzzled.
"Hey, yeah," Lita said, eyeing up the lone tapestry that had been hanging on the wall behind it like the cloth might have eaten the black walnut piece of furniture. "I could have sworn I saw it earlier."
"Do you think it got damaged in Ralph's fall?" Mina asked as she nervously looked around.
"Maybe one of the servants took it away when they cleaned up the crystal shards this morning," Darien offered. "In any case, it's not here now, and we have more important things to be looking for."
"So, which wing do we check first?" Mina asked, returning her attention to the task at hand.
Darien took a deep breath and shrugged. He handed his candle to Serena and began digging in his pocket. Finally he pulled out a quarter. "Heads we go north, tails we go south." He flipped the coin into the air, caught it, and slapped it onto the back of his left hand. He slowly raised the right one to reveal a familiar bird looking back at them.
"Looks like we go down our hall," Lita said, taking a step in that direction.
"What was that noise?" Mina asked at the sound of crunching that step made. She crouched down to check out the carpet, taking note of some leftover crystal shards that had been overlooked by whoever had cleaned them up and figuring that must have been what made the sound she heard. The others, not noticing the pale blonde's distraction, started to move toward the left-hand set of stairs while she took a closer look at some of the stone blocks near the lower edge of the tapestry. "Hey, guys?" she called, her voice slightly muffled as she began to lift the fabric to look underneath it.
The others turned around just in time to get caught up in the next sequence of events. Lightning flashed, thunder cracked, and the tapestry fluttered out violently from the wall, putting out the candles one more time. There was a distinct "Eep!" from the direction the red-bow-bedecked blonde had been crouched in, and the other three people rushed to get their light sources relit.
They were almost expecting the sight they found once Lita and Darien had lit the three candles: Mina was nowhere to be seen.
The trio moved to the tapestry and began examining it carefully. "There has to be some sort of secret door here," Serena said desperately, grabbing for one of the small black walnut shelves that hung to either side of the thick tapestry.
Lita grabbed for the other one. "Right. So where is it?"
"Is this triggering anything, Darien?" the petite blonde asked the ebony-haired young man who had lifted up the cloth to examine the wall beneath.
"No, it's not. Stay calm, girls. Just take a little bit of time and we'll find it. We won't do anybody any good if we're running around like chickens with their heads cut off. You might want to check the stones of the wall. One could be a trigger." With that, Darien began putting pressure in various places on the floor in front of the hanging fabric.
Both girls did as suggested, taking deep breaths as they checked the stones on either side of the tapestry, pushing on the ones they were suspicious of. Finally the three of them concluded that if there were a secret door there, and they were sure there was, they weren't going to find it right then.
"There has to be more than one secret door," Darien said resignedly. "Considering all the different places people have disappeared from, there's probably a maze of them behind the walls."
"Okay, then we find another one," Serena said firmly, her features hardening in determination. "Let's get our friends back."
"Right," Lita said with a grin then turned to face the young man next to them. "Lead the way, oh fearless leader." Darien arched an eyebrow at the grinning brunette then shook his head and led the two girls up the stairs to the south wing.
They started with the master bedroom that Serena and Darien were staying in then moved on to the room the other four girls had been assigned. Finding nothing there they went next to the smaller room that Madam Roselle was occupying. They were all not surprised to see various fortune telling devices strewn about the room and a large framed poster of the constellations hung on one of the walls. But there were no secret doors that they could find.
"Now this is morbid," Lita declared as they stepped into Dr. Nathaniel Blake's room at the end of the hall. The only thing other than size that differentiated this bedroom from the others was that it had a closet as well as a wardrobe.
"Well, he was a neat man," Serena commented, making her way to the wardrobe.
"I've seen neater places," Darien replied as he began checking the area around the bed.
"You two are too much," Lita said with a slight chuckle as she went to the closet and opened the door. "Oh, wow, a walk-in closet," she said with awe in her tone, stepping inside, being careful of the clothes that still hung there. No one noticed the door shut behind her.
Serena giggled. "That is an oddity. It's too bad we can't have this place - we could use the room." She kept her face buried in the piece of furniture she was examining.
Another five minutes had passed when a slight scraping noise was heard from somewhere seemingly outside the room. "What's that?" Darien asked, bringing his head up from where he had been checking out the floor under the bed.
"I don't know," Serena said, coming halfway out of the wardrobe. She looked over at the closet and saw that the door was closed. "Maybe Lita went outside quick to check something out."
"What?" Darien exclaimed, scrambling to his feet. "That would be incredibly stupid at a time like this!" He rushed over to the closet and threw open the door. There was no one inside.
"Well, is she there?" the petite blonde asked nervously as she joined him.
He closed the door as he stepped out. "No, there's nothing there. Maybe she did go out."
Serena gulped. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Darien took a deep breath and released it. "You and me both." He looked at the girl at his side seriously. "We should keep looking though. Maybe we're wrong and we'll run into her in the hall."
Serena merely nodded and the pair headed for the north wing.
Again they found nothing in the large bedroom at the end of the hall that was Eli's, and Barrett Ward's room next to it also turned up nothing. They managed to ignore the large blood stain in Kingsly's room while they searched it, again coming up empty. Hewett Doyle's room was next, and as much as Darien had to admit privately the man was as nit-picky as he was when it came to keeping his room neat, no clues or passages were revealed.
"Wait a minute," Serena said, slightly confused, as the couple walked into Ralph's room closest to the stairs. "Is it just me or is there an extra bedroom in this wing?"
Darien blinked and thought about it for a moment. "There is."
"How did that happen?"
"Well, as far as I can tell, Eli's room isn't quite as big as ours, and I know Mr. Ward's room is nowhere near as big as the girls' is. That leaves enough space for another room in this wing." He shrugged.
"Oh." She glanced around the smaller room, taking note that its setup was the same as Dr. Blake's. "Well, I'm going to check the closet."
Darien nodded. "I'll check the wardrobe. Don't be too long, okay?"
"I won't." With that the girl stepped into the walk-in closet after moving the few clothes out of her way so there wouldn't be any danger of her accidentally setting them on fire with her candle.
Serena checked the walls carefully for any sign of a secret door, using her free hand to feel around the wood paneling. She finally made it to the far back wall. "I think there's a small, different-colored panel," she murmured to herself as she squinted at the suspect square. Tentatively she pushed at it, and was surprised when it gave way and the wall silently moved aside to reveal a thin staircase leading up and down. "Yes!" she cried. "Darien, I found a secret door with some stairs behind it!" she called out without moving. "I'm going to follow them and find out where they go!" She pondered which way to go first briefly before deciding she wanted to see the mysterious third floor.
Darien, as Serena was making her discovery, had stepped into the wardrobe to examine the back of it more closely. An odd panel had caught his eye, and he thought he might have found a secret compartment of some sort that might hold a clue as to the motive of their killer. He pushed on a knot in the discolored panel and jumped when it shifted slightly and slid aside.
After blinking for a few moments, he stepped forward into the new space, moving aside the clothes that were hanging in his way. He pushed at the far back wall, and again was surprised when it swung open, revealing Doyle's room. He grinned. "Serena?" he called back over his shoulder. "I found a secret passage connecting Ralph's room and Doyle's! I'm going to check it out, okay?" He stepped out into the attorney's room.
Neither teenager realized that with all the space and clothes between them the other had no way of hearing their partner's words.
(fade out...)
(scene change...)
As Serena topped the stairs, she found herself in a musty attic with ceilings tall enough to allow her to stand at her full height. She crinkled her nose at the slight smell and flinched as lightning lit up the large, long room briefly. There were boxes piled in various places in the space that obviously took up the length of the mansion. She wandered over to the closest pile to her right, a briefcase on top of one of the boxes catching her eye during the next flash of light.
The girl ran her hands over the stiff dark black leather as she bit her lip in contemplation. She debated whether or not to open it, considering the act to be a major invasion of privacy. Finally she sighed and realized she needed to do it - the fact that there wasn't an ounce of dust on the case said there could be some clues inside. Sparing a glance out the window directly to her left, she tried the buttons to either side of the brass latches and jumped a bit when they easily sprung open.
Serena gulped before slowly raising the lid and finding a lot of loose papers inside. On top was a copy of John Cunningham's death certificate, showing the actual date of death to be exactly a week before. She shuddered and put it aside. Underneath that she found a copy of the multi-page document Doyle had read the guests the night before. She flipped through, finally coming to the last page, where it was signed and dated about three months previous. And lastly was a short document, signed and dated a week before John Cunningham's death.
The petite blonde quickly read the one page addendum to the old man's will, knowing she was holding the solution to the mystery in her hands. "If any of my heirs should die before my property has been divided as recorded in my last will and testament, that person's inheritance shall be divided equally amongst the surviving heirs," she read aloud to make sure she read it right the first time. Her brows creased in thought. "Wait a minute. Doyle never read that last night." She looked back at the paper. At the bottom was John Cunningham's signature, sealed and notarized by...
"I see you found my little secret," a familiar voice said from behind the blonde girl as a shadow fell over the last piece of the puzzle. Serena stiffened.
(cut to...)
(scene change...)
Darien searched through the lawyer's things once again as he tried to figure out just what that secret door could mean. "I guess the big question is did Doyle know about it," he muttered to himself as he carefully rooted through the second of the attorney's bags. He paused as his hand touched something odd. "What in the world...?" When he pulled his hand out, he found he was holding a padded pouch with a button holding the flap shut.
"Okay, this I need to see." He opened the pouch and found three vials, two empty and one filled with a clear fluid. There were no labels. He furrowed his brows and reached back inside, eventually coming up with a bag of disposable hypodermic needles. "Is Doyle diabetic or something like that?" he muttered, confused.
Darien replaced the items he had removed and took one last look around the room before deciding to check Kingsly's room next door one more time. Once there, his eyes flitted briefly to the reddish-brown stain in the carpet before focusing on the wardrobe up against the wall. He quickly looked for and found a similar mark like the one inside Ralph's. He pushed it and found himself once again in Doyle's room, this time coming through a practically seamless door in the paneling. "This is too convenient," he said shaking his head as suspicions began to form in his thoughts. "I need to tell Serena."
He took the traditional route back to Ralph's room and looked around confused when he didn't see Serena waiting for him. He was about to call out for her when the overwhelming sensation of danger washed over him and drove him to his knees. He gasped in shock at how powerful it was, somehow realizing that it was similar to the feeling he got when Sailor Moon transformed, but yet it was different. His midnight blue gaze locked with the window across the room from him, and he stood and stumbled toward it, somehow knowing that's where he needed to be. "Serena," he managed to whisper before falling back to his hands and knees.
(cut to...)
(scene change...)
Serena spun around, dropping the page back into the briefcase. Her eyes widened at the sight of the man standing behind her. "I... I can't believe you'd go this far," she said softly.
The small lawyer smirked. "I guess I should have realized you were one of the goody-two-shoes of the group," Doyle said derisively. "'A truly good person' he called you. What a load of horse hocky!"
"Why have you done this?" the blonde asked somewhat desperately, hoping to buy some time so Darien would notice her disappearance. "Why would you need that money so badly?"
The small man gave a short barking laugh. "My dear, your innocence astounds me. I have an opportunity to inherit millions of dollars in one short weekend. It doesn't matter that I don't really need it. It's money. You know, what makes the world go 'round? And the more you have the better. Is it my fault that Cunningham never told anyone about that little stipulation he decided to add to his will? I think not."
"These people are other people's family, other people's friends. How could you do that to all those people?"
The man smirked. "In case you haven't noticed I'm pretty much out for myself and myself alone. I don't care what happens to all those other people. Why should I? I'll be rich!"
"So you killed everybody?" She narrowed her eyes at him even as she inwardly hoped that he would deny her claim.
Her wish was granted. "Not yet. I decided that I would just get everybody out of the way and harmless to my plans before I finished the job. Besides, it made it easier to throw everyone off my trail by making myself disappear. But you, and that boyfriend of yours, kept on coming, kept on looking. So," he said menacingly, taking a step forward and causing Serena to step back toward the window, "I guess I'll just have to take care of you now. Once he's the only one left it should be easy to take care of the boy wonder downstairs."
Serena's sapphire blues widened in panic as she bumped up against the sill of the window. "No! Leave Darien alone!"
"My dear," Doyle sneered as he leaned in and put his hands to either side of her, trapping her, "after I'm done with you, you will have absolutely nothing whatsoever to say about the boy's fate. In fact, he'll just be meeting you on the other side." With that his hands darted forward, grabbing the edge of the window and throwing it open in one fluid motion.
Serena found herself suddenly without anything supporting her back. Since she had been practically pushing herself into the window to keep away from the lawyer's sneering countenance, the sudden disappearance of it caused her to lose her balance, and the next thing she knew she was falling out of the attic window - her descent only slowed momentarily by her desperate but ultimately futile attempt to grab the sides of the window frame - and heading straight for the tiled bottom of the empty swimming pool in the back of the mansion. All she could do was scream.
(cut to...)
(scene change...)
The sense of danger that had sent Darien to the floor near the window in Ralph's room managed to increase in intensity, much to the young man's disbelief. Finally he could take no more. "That's it," he spit out from between clenched teeth. "I don't care if it's not Sailor Moon in danger, I need to transform or I'm going to go crazy!"
He called for his transformational rose by sliding his hand into the black dinner jacket he'd been wearing all night, and just before he called on its powers, he heard Serena scream. "Serena, no!" he cried, immediately putting all his concentration into becoming Tuxedo Mask as soon as possible to be able to protect the young woman who had managed to steal his heart.
The minor light show faded seconds later, and the newly-powered up super hero threw open the window to find out exactly what was going on. He thought he had heard the scream coming from above him...
Just then Serena fell by the window, screaming once more. "No!" he shouted, diving out of the window after her.
(cut to...)
(scene change...)
Serena had her eyes clenched tight, not wanting to see her ultimate demise rise to meet her. And then she was enveloped in a fierce embrace, a familiar embrace, an embrace she didn't normally feel unless she was battling youma...
(cut to...)
(scene change...)
Darien realized they were headed for the swimming pool and braced himself for the only option he saw open to them. Somehow managing to catch the edge of the pool, he used their momentum to jump forward and over the corner of the gaping hole beginning to fill with rain. The pair tumbled and rolled, eventually coming to a halt by crashing into the patio furniture near poolside.
(cut to...)
(scene change...)
Once she realized that she wasn't dead - she wasn't even hurt - Serena opened her eyes. For a moment she was worried as she saw only white, but when she moved her head slightly she noticed the black jacket and red lining of the cape that was partially draped over her. She glanced up without moving her head much and saw a silver medallion and the red ribbon it hung from. The blonde gulped. She'd been saved by Tuxedo Mask! But how? And more importantly, why?
(cut to...)
(scene change...)
Darien groaned a bit as he shifted after the shock of the sudden stop wore off. He had somehow maneuvered himself to take the brunt of the blow from the iron furniture, but he couldn't be sure if the girl he still held was alright. She was so quiet... "Serena? Serena, are you okay?" he whispered, afraid of the answer.
He... he knows my name? Serena thought in complete shock. I wonder if he knows I'm Sailor Moon? She looked up at the fear in his tone, despite the surprise that sent her senses reeling. Her sapphire blue eyes widened at what she saw. Unbeknownst to the young man, Tuxedo Mask's hat and mask had flown off sometime during the couple's descent and tumble, leaving the petite blonde staring in utter amazement at the worried features of one Darien Shields. "Darien?" she barely breathed.
The young man stiffened. "How...?" He couldn't finish the question.
Serena gave him a small smile and reached out with her left hand and stroked his cheek, being sure to brush the bridge of his nose and his temple. "You lost your mask," she explained gently.
Darien released the breath he didn't realize he was holding and grinned ruefully. "Well, I guess my secret's out. You do realize you can't tell anyone, right?"
The girl giggled, much to her companion's surprise. "That shouldn't be too hard. I have an important secret of my own that goes right along with yours." Inside the girl was flying high. The guy she loved and her favorite hero were one and the same! Talk about two great guys in one even better package!
He creased his brow in confusion. "What in the world are you talking about, Serena?" His tone was completely bewildered.
She gave him an impish look. "Can you keep a secret?"
His eyes searched hers. "Of course I can."
She leaned forward and put her lips next to his ear. "I'm Sailor Moon."
He blinked, his eyes getting impossibly large as the girl settled back into his embrace. "You're... Sailor... Moon..."
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, come on, Darien. Check the hairstyle. If you think about it, it's a dead giveaway. I'm surprised that no one else has caught on. Although Amy says there's some sort of magic that keeps people from being able to make the connection. That must be it, and I'm glad. I like my hairstyle too much to give it up."
A funny grin spread across the delicate masculine features as he searched her face. "You're Sailor Moon."
"Yes. And you're Tuxedo Mask, my hero. You've saved me one more time. I just don't get how you know when you need to be there for me." Serena nestled into Darien's chest.
The mention of his saving her brought back all the fear and memories of the near-fatal fall, and caused Darien to crush the girl to him and start crying slightly into her shoulder. "Oh, gods, Serena! I... I almost lost you! I... I can't... not now... I love you too much... gods, Serena, I love you!"
Serena started crying herself at his admission. "Darien! Do you really love me? Did I hear that right?"
"It's true, it's true," he sobbed. "I love you so much it hurts. I never want to let you go. And I almost lost you!"
"Oh, Darien, I love you too! I've loved you for a while now, but I was too afraid to say it! I just couldn't be sure our game was only a game to you! Oh, Darien!" Darien only held her tighter and continued to cry out his anxiety.
Serena recovered a bit faster than her partner and brought her head up slightly and gazed over Darien's shoulder into the rain. With the next flash of lightning she saw something that reminded her this wasn't over yet. Hewett Doyle stood glaring at them from the attic window he had pushed her out of, obviously just recovering from the shock of seeing her alive and well. "Oh, gods, Darien!" she gasped. "It's Doyle! Doyle is the murderer! And he's watching us right now from the third floor!"
The petite blonde's words snapped the ebony-haired young man out of his mood, and he quickly looked over his shoulder to where she was pointing. "It was Doyle? How do you know?"
"I found a secret passage in the back of Ralph's closet that led to a set of stairs. I followed them up and found myself in the attic, where I found a briefcase with some legal papers in it. It turns out that Mr. Cunningham added an addendum to his will a week before he died that said that if an heir were to die before his or her inheritance had been distributed, that share would be equally divided amongst the remaining surviving heirs. Doyle was trying to kill us all to get all of John Cunningham's estate!"
"So how did you fall out of the window?"
"He caught me reading that addendum and ended up pushing me. Then he was going to deal with you." Serena bit her lower lip as she remembered her fear for her love at that point.
Midnight blue eyes narrowed dangerously. "Oh, he's going to deal with me alright," Darien snarled.
Before the infuriated young man could begin his task, another flash of lightning revealed another figure behind that of the lawyer. Serena gasped. "Who's that?" Darien just shook his head in surprise.
The couple watched as Doyle seemed to notice the figure as well, and turned around to face it. They could almost see the shaking of the man's limbs. He got closer and closer to the open window, holding his hands up to ward off something that obviously kept approaching. Finally, it appeared that the slightly glowing figure darted forward suddenly, and the next thing either teenager knew, Hewett Doyle was plummeting to his death in the deep end of the empty swimming pool.
Darien quickly wrapped his cloak around the blonde girl in his arms, shielding her from the gruesome sight. But her eyes weren't on the splattered form of the murderous attorney. Her sapphire blues were fixed on the window of the attic, where successive flashes of lightning showed the pair the form of the figure that had caused the small older man's doom. They both recognized the old man from the day in the park when they had stumbled across him lying at the foot of a set of concrete stairs with a broken hip and cuts and bruises to match and had paused in their game to help him. John Cunningham gave them a knowing smile and a nod, and when the next flash occurred, he was gone.
"Did you see that?" Serena asked in a barely audible voice.
"Yeah," Darien responded. "And, as much as I normally wouldn't, I find myself completely believing that really happened."
"Me too."
The two of them stared at the empty window for a little while longer before Darien decided that Serena needed to get in out of the rain. So the two of them went inside, still in shock.
(fade out...)
(scene change...)
An hour or so later, after the two of them had dried off (Darien had just powered down and found himself dry much to Serena's disgust), they headed back to Ralph's room where Serena had said the secret passage was to be found. She showed him the odd panel and pushed it, and they both watched as the door opened once again to reveal the staircase. Going down them this time, Serena led the way to the bottom, where the steps ended seemingly in a stone wall.
"There has to be another pressure plate somewhere," Darien said. "Considering we only have candlelight to work with..."
Before the young man could complete his statement, a string of lights that traveled all the way back up stairs flickered and came to life, providing more than enough light to see clearly without the aid of their temporary light sources. They blinked at each other. "I... guess the power's back on," Serena said with a small shrug of her shoulders.
"I can see that," Darien concurred. "Now let's find that switch."
It didn't take long before the discolored stone was found and pushed, causing a section of the wall to pull in and slide to the side, revealing a small room with twelve straight-back wooden chairs as the only furniture. Two were empty. The rest, on the other hand...
"Guys!" Serena cried when she saw her friends and Eli, Madam Roselle, Kingsly, and Ralph all tied up and gagged sitting in the chairs. She dashed inside and realized no one was struggling or trying to respond. "Guys? Are you okay?" She knelt before Raye and reached out a hand to brush the long black hair out of her face. She felt the girl's warm breath on her hand past the gag and breathed a sigh of relief. "She's breathing," she announced as she undid the cloth in her friend's mouth.
"So are the rest of them, but they've been drugged into unconsciousness," Darien said from the other side of the room where he was checking the adults. "We should probably get them out of here, especially Ralph. This cannot be helping his leg."
"How should we do that?" Serena asked, moving on to Amy, who sat to one side of the raven-haired priestess.
"Working together we should be able to take them upstairs one at a time. It'll take some time, but it's possible."
Serena thought about it for a moment. "What if we transformed? Then we could take two people at a time and be much more sure of their safety."
Darien looked at her and blinked. "I never thought of that. You're right, Serena. That would work. Let's do it. Besides, it should be interesting to find out what it feels like when you transform when you aren't in danger."
She looked at him quizzically as she paused with her hand on her transformation brooch. "What are you talking about?"
"I can feel when you transform and when you're in danger. That's how I find you. I seem to have an inner sense that can lead me to you when you need me. I tried it a couple of times when you weren't transformed, but I couldn't sense you then." He paused and thought. "Actually, tonight is the first time I've sensed you as Serena instead of Sailor Moon."
"Weird. But we should have this discussion later." She winked and smiled. "Here goes nothing! Moon Prism Power!"
The both of them quickly changed into their alternate forms and made relatively quick work of getting the others upstairs and into their respective beds. Once they were finished, they checked on all of them one last time. "I... I think I should help Ralph and Kingsly. Their breathing was a bit too shallow for my tastes, " Darien said a bit hesitantly as they stepped once again into the butler's room.
"What do you mean?" Serena said as they moved to either side of the bed, where Ralph lay unconscious.
"I... I have a natural healing ability, Serena. I can heal myself and others. It also lets me know what's wrong with someone. I don't know how I got it, but it's been there for as long as I can remember. I... I hope you don't think I'm weird or anything because of it." Darien looked away, an expression of tense worry on his features.
Serena giggled. "I already thought you were weird, Darien. But that's okay - so am I! About your healing ability," she said as he turned to look her in the eye, "I'd have to say that it's wonderful to have such a gift that you can help so many people with."
He smiled slightly at the soft expression on her face. "Thank you for being understanding. The kids at the orphanage all thought I was a freak because I wasn't like them, although they didn't know about my abilities. I don't think I could have handled it if you would have reacted the same way."
"Well, I didn't. So help Ralph!"
Darien shook his head and did as he was told. Soon he had taken care of the excess sedative and damage the captivity had done to the butler's leg, and they moved on to each of the others. Only Kingsly really needed the same kind of help, and the pair eventually found themselves back in their bedroom, detransformed and getting ready for bed. "You do realize that you're naked when you transform, right?" Darien said as Serena finished pulling on her white sweatpants.
She froze. "I'm what?"
"Naked. Completely bereft of clothing. Utterly beautiful and surrounded by sparkling ribbons of light." He smiled impishly at her.
"And you saw that." It was more a statement than a question.
He finished buttoning up his pajama top and crawled into the large four-poster bed. "And I appreciated it very much. Just remember, you chose to transform in front of me."
Serena blushed furiously as she joined him under the covers. "I guess you're right." Then something he had said earlier hit her. "Utterly beautiful?"
He took the girl into his arms. "Utterly beautiful. And you don't have to be transforming for me to think that either. You're that way all the time."
"Flatterer." She smiled as their faces grew closer and closer.
"I only speak the truth." And he kissed her.
"This has been a long night," Serena said through a yawn once they broke apart.
"I agree. Let's get some sleep."
They had both settled onto their pillows for a short time, Darien's arm draped over the girl as he lay on his side, when the young man began to see flashes of Serena falling past the window once again and he could feel the panic and fear that had coursed through his veins. He squeezed her tight and said nothing. Everything continued to build up inside him, finally causing him to lower his lips to her once again and kiss the groggy girl senseless for reassurance of her reality. "Serena... Serena... don't leave me... don't make me let you go... I almost lost you... I was a hair's breath away from losing you..."
Serena could say nothing between the onslaught of his words and kisses, so she reassured him in the only way she could - she returned the kisses with twice as much passion. And thus the night spiraled into a night of firsts for both of them, culminating in the act of ultimate intimacy, and finally ending in both of them passing out completely exhausted in each other's arms.
(fade out...)
(scene change...)
Serena woke up the next morning sore in places she'd never felt that way before, and yet utterly relaxed. She gazed at the sleeping man that still held her through his slumber, a light smile on his lips. He was truly beautiful, inside and out, and looking at him in this totally relaxed state made her realize that she always wanted to be with him. There were no regrets about what had happened between them the night before.
She saw that she wasn't the only one who was completely relaxed. Darien's face was utterly softened by his slumber, and she knew - since she had seen him asleep in the arcade once after he had pulled an all-nighter studying for an important exam - that even sleep didn't cause that kind of change in his features. A gentle reassurance of how much it all meant to him settled itself in her soul, and she reached out and lovingly brushed the ebony bangs out of his face. His smile grew larger, and she snuggled back into his embrace.
Fifteen minutes later, she was brought out of her dozing state by light kisses to her eyelids and nose. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty," Darien said softly as her sapphire blues fluttered open. "Are you alright?"
She smiled gently. "I'm just fine, Darien. Everything's just fine."
He laid his cheek against the top of her head. "I... I hope I didn't push you into anything last night. I think the adrenaline from everything we had gone through finally got to me and..."
She put a finger to his lips to stop his rambling. "I know, Darien, and I understand. I have no regrets. Do you?" A touch of fear played along the edges of her voice.
"Oh, gods, no!" he declared fiercely, punctuating his words with a kiss to the finger on his lips. She giggled and drew it back. "I love you, Serena! It was wonderful sharing myself for the first time like that with you. I'd do it again in a heartbeat as long as you still wanted it."
"I do. Oh, I definitely do. So... this means we're together now, right? I mean, a couple?"
Darien laughed. "What a silly question! Of course we are! I wouldn't have it any other way!"
"Yes!" Serena cried, squeezing him as tightly as she could. "I've dreamt about this for months!"
"I think I have too, although I didn't realize it. It took this weekend and Mr. Cunningham's stipulation to make me really see how I completely felt about you. I guess that makes it all worth it, although I wish we could have gone without people dying. Doyle was one twisted individual."
"I agree," the petite blonde murmured. "Speaking of, we should really try to contact the police so they can come out with the last ferry or something."
"Serena, the phone line's been cut. There's no way to communicate with the mainland."
"That's not true," she declared, pulling away from him with an impish smile. "I'll get dressed and show you."
The pair changed into their outfits for the day and Serena pulled out her communicator. "I'll use this to contact Luna and Artemis and let them call the police. The storm's over so we shouldn't have the problems the girls did Friday night."
"Wait a minute, Luna and Artemis? Aren't those two cats?"
"Yeah, but they can talk. They're our advisors, actually. Now, when I call, you'll have to be quiet. Luna will hack up a hairball if she knows I'm doing this in front of you." Darien just nodded, overwhelmed by the whole thing. Talking cats...?
Once she was finished (and Darien had his proof that Serena had been telling the truth), the pair took sheets of paper from one of the girl's notebooks and wrote messages to the other guests telling them to meet them in the drawing room when they awoke. They'd figure out exactly what happened then.
(fade out...)
(scene change...)
Once everyone had gathered, even Ralph joining them thanks to the crutches Darien had found with the medicinal supplies and left for him, Darien explained that the police were coming out in a few hours and they needed to know what to tell them. "Everything will sound suspicious if we're all saying different things. If we all share what we know, we can figure out exactly what happened and why."
"All I know is that when I moved the picture frame in the study, part of the wall moved aside and Doyle was standing there waiting. He injected me with something and I passed out. The next thing I knew I was waking up in bed next to the other girls." The expression on Raye's face was a mix between anger, irritation, and confusion. Serena had promised to explain the things she couldn't in front of those not in the know later, and the priestess couldn't wait for that little discussion.
"The wall seemed to fall out from behind me after the seance, and I felt a sharp pain in the side of my neck. Then I woke up in my room," Madam Roselle explained.
"That's about what happened to me on the stair landing," Eli added. "My candle got blown out when the tapestry moved so I couldn't see who did it."
"I had just taken off my robe when there was a quick footstep behind me and a pain in my neck. I woke up in my bed." Kingsly shrugged as he looked around at the others, his monocle in place.
"The back wall of the closet in Dr. Blake's room opened up and the bastard was there. He reached out and poked me with his needle and I passed out. Then I woke up in bed with the others." Lita looked like she wanted to hit something, preferably Doyle.
"I had lifted up the bottom edge of the tapestry and saw that there was a growing gap in the wall behind it. That's when the thing started fluttering and blowing out all the candles. Doyle must have used that as his cue to get me too. Then cut to morning and me waking up with the girls." Mina shrugged, her eyes never leaving Serena and Darien, who leaned up against the library table next to each other, for long. There was a knowing look on her face that made the couple a bit nervous.
"I saw him step out of my wardrobe," Ralph explained. "I didn't even get a chance to shout before he pounced at me, needle in hand. I struggled, but with me being injured, it didn't take him too much to catch me. The next thing I remember is waking up in my bed."
"I had just checked Serena's suggestion for a book - and it happened to work by the way - when the shelves began to move and all the noise started outside. I believe the change in pressure caused the gust of wind that blew out the candles, and Doyle sedated me quickly. When I woke up I was in bed with the other girls." Amy gave Serena a wink and smiled at the others.
Everyone looked at the remaining pair expectantly. "Well, we kept looking after Lita disappeared. Ralph's room was the last we checked, and I went into the closet to check it out. I found an odd panel, pushed it, and a door slid aside and there was a set of stairs behind it. I decided to follow them up and see if there was a third floor like we suspected." Serena smiled ruefully and shrugged.
"Meanwhile, I was checking the wardrobe and had found an odd plank in the back. I pushed a knot and it slid aside revealing more dark space. When I pushed on the back wall, I found it was the door to the wardrobe in Doyle's room. That's when I decided to check that room out again." Darien looked at Serena.
"When I got to the attic, I saw a bunch of piles of boxes. The closest pile had a briefcase on it with no dust, so I knew it couldn't have been there for long. I opened it and found an addendum to Mr. Cunningham's will that said if someone died before the inheritance had been split up, that person's share would be divided up equally between the surviving heirs. It was dated a week before he died, and had been signed and notarized by Hewett Doyle himself."
"He never read anything like that to us when he read the will," Lita said.
"I know. I thought of that too. But that's when Doyle came up behind me and cornered me against the window. He threw it open and I fell out." Everyone gasped.
"To get you up to date on what I was doing all that time," Darien continued before people could start fawning over the petite blonde, "I found a pouch with three vials - two empty and one full - in his bag, along with a bag of disposable hypodermic needles. I put them back and decided to check Kingsly's room and see if the secret panel thing was something that was in all the wardrobes. I can't be sure if there's one in every room, but there was one leading back to Doyle's room. That's when I decided to tell Serena about what I had found and went back to Ralph's room." He sighed and closed his eyes. "I heard her scream. I... I don't know how I did it, but I managed to catch her and break her fall. I just blanked when I saw her falling." His lids clenched even tighter, and Serena reached out and took his hand.
"After we made sure we were both okay," the girl continued knowing Darien couldn't, "we looked back up at the attic window and saw Doyle glaring down at us." She hesitated for a moment, looking from one guest to another, trying to gauge if they could accept the next part of their story. "Um, you may not believe this, but we saw this weird glow from behind him. He turned around and started backing away from it, eventually getting pushed out the window by the glowing figure. He... he landed in the deep end of the swimming pool." She swallowed and closed her eyes briefly.
"When we looked back at the window," she went on, opening her sapphire blues, "we saw John Cunningham standing there by the light of a few lightning flashes. There was a bit of time between those flashes, and with the next one he was gone."
The others in the drawing room shot each other looks as the couple waited for a negative reaction. Everyone stayed surprisingly silent, and Darien took up the tale. "We came in and dried off, then went back to the secret stairway Serena had found and followed it down. We found the secret room in the basement where you were all being held, and managed to get you back to your rooms to sleep off the effects of the sedative you'd been given. We went to bed as well, and left you the notes to meet us here in the morning. And that brings us up to now."
"Alright, so what does this all mean?" Raye asked with an expectant look on her face.
"Well, let's see," Serena responded thoughtfully. "To make a time line, why don't we start with three months ago? That's when Mr. Cunningham signed the final copy of his will. Then, two months ago he made all the arrangements for how this weekend was going to go, if what Ralph said about that being when the bedrooms were assigned to the guests is accurate." Darien smiled at her proudly, the girls looked at her impressed, and the adults nodded in agreement as the petite blonde tapped her chin during a pause. "Two weeks ago, unbeknownst to anyone else, he has Doyle draw up an addendum to the will, adding the stipulation about surviving heirs splitting up any unclaimed inheritance. One week ago, he dies. My guess is that Doyle used that week to go through Mr. Cunningham's affairs, setting them in order, and getting final totals as to the worth of the estate, and, when he saw the number, got everything ready for whoever would be here this weekend. Cut to Friday night, when we, the last of the expected guests, arrived. He's already hidden the addendum, and reads us the will signed three months ago. I doubt he had any particular order in mind for how he was going to kill us, but I think he was hoping we'd all be too scared to leave our rooms. With the secret doors between them, which I'm also thinking he found and explored sometime during the week before this weekend, it would have been easier to catch us all one on one there. But the plan catches a snag when Darien takes charge and keeps everyone calm and rational. So now he has to catch us as he can, using those secret passages to get around the house without anyone knowing.
"I think he got lucky when he happened across Dr. Blake getting a midnight snack. Then, he snuck out to get Ralph after he checked on him during the storm. But Ralph caught sight of the barrel and managed to duck in time. So he bided his time until yesterday morning. He got up early, snuck into the dining room, and dosed some part of Mr. Ward's place setting with the poison that killed the man. Still no one panicked, and now everyone was going to be extra careful about not being alone. So he used his last real chance to catch anyone alone while we were changing, and grabbed the two easiest people, Ralph and Mr. Kingsly, who had bedrooms on either side of him. The only thing I can't explain about that is the blood stains in the carpet. Neither of them were injured in a way that would leave that kind of blood behind." Her brows creased in thought and she pouted slightly. Darien chuckled and wrapped an arm around her waist.
"If we can pause for a minute, I think I might have a solution for that," Amy said, giving Serena a meaningful look.
After a moment or two, the blonde seemed to understand what the blue-haired girl was hinting at. "Oh! Sure! Um, Darien? Why don't you continue this while Amy and I check this out? We shouldn't be too long." It was Serena's turn to give a meaningful look.
The ebony-haired young man picked up on it immediately and smiled. "Of course. Now then, where did Serena leave off...?" His voice trailed off as the two girls left the room and headed upstairs. Once the doors closed behind them, he continued. "My guess is that the girls and I took longer than Doyle suggested when he said he had been waiting twenty minutes. He rightly surmised no one else had been paying attention to the time. It explains why he seemed so upset when I said it might not be a murder in Kingsly's room - that's what he wanted us to think. And when we decided to split up and search the grounds, he saw that as the perfect opportunity to take the suspicion off of himself by setting up his own disappearance. Then he just picked the rest of us off one by one as the night went along."
"Why didn't he just kill us?" Lita asked.
"There probably wasn't time," Mina answered. "He knew he needed to get rid of us all by today, when the ferry would arrive and be able to get people back to Tokyo, where it would be much more difficult to reach us. So he drugged us and hid us until everyone was out of the way and he could do as he pleased without any chance of anyone interrupting."
"And then Serena found out it was him," Raye said with a shake of her head and a chuckle. "It figures that Meatball Head would stumble across the truth."
"I knew John Cunningham knew who was killing people in his mansion," Roselle said a touch smugly. Everyone looked at her for a moment then ignored her.
"So did you guys do anything with Doyle's body?" Eli asked.
"No. We thought it would be better to let the police see at least one thing the way it happened. That, and he's not exactly very neat at the moment. Neither one of us wanted to deal with that, especially in a slick pool in the middle of a downpour."
"You aren't going to tell the police that a ghost pushed Doyle out of the window, are you?" Kingsly asked incredulously.
"Of course not. I was thinking more of something like he leaned over too far when checking to see if we'd survived and fell. We tried to warn him, but..." Darien shrugged.
"By George, I think we've got it!" Serena cried from the suddenly-open double doors to the room, Amy right behind her. Both girls were wearing huge smiles.
"What are you talking about, Meatball Head?" Raye asked, an eyebrow raised at her friend's entrance.
"Well, Amy and I did a little checking, and we figured out that the blood in Ralph and Mr. Kingsly's rooms wasn't theirs!"
"We double checked the bodies in the freezer and found that there were incisions made and blood drained from them. Mr. Doyle must have poured it onto the carpet to fool us into thinking Ralph and Mr. Kingsly had been murdered," Amy explained, her dark blue eyes sparkling.
"That's disgusting!" Lita cried while everyone else went a bit pale.
"Well, I'm certainly not arguing with you, Lita, but at least we know what happened," Serena said with a shrug, her smile turning rueful.
"I think that about puts everything in place," Darien said as Serena rejoined him by the library desk. "Now we just have to wait for the police to arrive." The others nodded their agreement.
Once the police arrived with the afternoon ferry, they set to work by interrogating the twelve heirs of John Cunningham. At the adults' insistence Darien and the girls were taken care of first, one at a time in the library. They gathered afterward in the drawing room, then decided to get some fresh air with a walk around the front garden. As they walked by the still-open door of the library, they saw the detective that had questioned them sitting down at the round table with another figure. "Perhaps you've read some of my books. Dining Out In Greenland?" they distinctly heard Harris Kingsly's voice ring out. The group snickered.
"Um, no, I'm afraid not, sir..." the policeman replied hesitantly.
"Akron: The City Behind the Myth?"
"Uh, no..."
"A Teenage Guide to Tijuana?"
"Uh..."
"Wyoming: Fact or Fiction?"
The detective whimpering was the last sound the teenagers heard before making it outside and closing the double doors behind them.
(fade out...)
(scene change...)
Finally, just in time for the final ferry back to Tokyo for the night, the police said they were all free to go. Darien, the girls, Harris Kingsly, and Madam Roselle all headed back for the main island a bit eagerly. Kingsly's eagerness was short-lived, however. As soon as the ferry moved away from the dock, an overwhelming bout of seasickness overtook him, and the author excused himself to go below.
"He's never been able to handle the sea very well," Madam Roselle said with a smile and a chuckle after she and the others had been left alone on the front deck along the rail.
"And he was Mr. Cunningham's traveling companion?" Lita asked incredulously.
"They didn't take boats very often."
"Oh! I have a surprise for everyone!" Serena said suddenly, digging into her duffle bag.
"You're giving up fashionable clothes to become a nun?" Mina said mischievously, her sky blue eyes sparkling.
"You're finally going to give me back that vest and skirt combo I lent you two months ago?" Lita offered, her emerald greens gazing at her friend with an impish cast.
"You're finally going to reveal yourself as the alien you are and tell us where your comrades hid the real Serena?" Raye said, her violet eyes twinkling.
Serena paused. "You keep up with guesses like that, and the surprise will be there is no surprise." She smiled and pulled out a handful of envelopes. "But then again, I've never liked to keep secrets. And my curiosity is getting the best of me."
"What are those?" Darien asked from her right.
"Part of our inheritance. These are the letters that we were told would be waiting for us after the weekend was over. I found them in Doyle's briefcase." The petite blonde began passing out the marked envelopes to the appropriate people.
The sound of tearing paper filled the air as the seven of them opened their mysterious gifts. This was followed shortly thereafter by seven gasps as they read the contents. "How... how did he know?" Mina asked in a voice barely above a whisper as she pocketed the fifty dollars cash that had been enclosed with her letter.
There were tears standing in Roselle's eyes as she folded the piece of paper she held. "He's always wanted to be sure of people. He was a marvelous judge of character, but once he inherited his father's money he got burned a few times. So he stopped trusting himself. Before he let anyone get too close he would hire a private detective to check on them. I just never realized the man he had hired to investigate me would be so thorough..." The older lady's voice trailed off and she turned to gaze out at the water as they cut their way through the waves.
"What did he find out?" Amy asked gently, her letter already folded up and put into her bag.
"My real name. I was a maid at the house of one of his father's friends when I met him at a party my employer was holding. I decided then that I would make myself into someone who could associate with him. Otherwise a lowly maid was certainly not going to have a chance to socialize with a rich young man like John Cunningham. I thought I had covered my tracks completely, but I guess not." Roselle smiled wistfully. "But it didn't matter to him. And I guess that's all I could ever ask for."
"I think it's even better that he knew the truth all this time and still cared about you," Serena said softly.
Roselle nodded. "I know. But now I think I'll leave the group of you alone. Obviously I'm not the only person he knew secrets about, and I think I need some time to deal with this. I'll talk to you later." The spiritualist left in the direction of the rear of the ferry, never once looking back.
"She loved him so much..." Mina said as she gazed after the lonely-looking woman.
"So, um, did the rest of your letters say what I think they said, girls?" Lita asked a bit hesitantly, looking at Darien warily.
The ebony-haired young man raised an eyebrow at the look. "I think it just might be time to clear the air here, or you're going to drive yourselves crazy trying to talk around me. To show you my faith in you, I'll tell you that my letter says John Cunningham figured out that..." He looked around quickly to check for any other people who could casually overhear. Finding none, he continued. "John Cunningham figured out that I'm Tuxedo Mask. But he says he never told anyone."
Mina, Lita, Amy, and Raye all stared at him, their jaws dropping to the ground in their surprise. Serena giggled. "You guys look like you're trying to catch flies."
"You knew?" Mina asked. "You knew and you didn't tell us?"
"I just found out last night. And there wasn't any time to tell you before now really."
"How did you find out?" Amy asked, regaining her composure.
"How do you think I broke her fall?" Darien asked, wrapping his arms around Serena's waist and squeezing her tight.
"You know, I hadn't thought about how odd that was," Lita said.
"So what do you know?" Raye asked suspiciously.
"I told him I'm Sailor Moon," Serena said quickly. "I figured it was only fair."
"And I figured out on my own in the drawing room earlier that you girls are the rest of the scouts," Darien added.
"Besides, how do you think we got all of you upstairs and into your beds? It would have taken us all night in our regular forms. So, do your letters say that he knew we're the Sailor Scouts?"
The other girls blinked at the change in subject. "Mine does," Mina said, her eyes flitting back and forth between the couple.
"Mina!" Raye snapped.
"Oh, come off it, Mars," the pale blonde growled. "Obviously he knows. And just as obviously Serena trusts him. Oh, and did I happen to mention that they have a soul bond?"
"What?" the other five people asked incredulously.
"A soul bond. I'm the scout of love, remember? I can sense these things. And boy, is it glowing!"
Darien and Serena looked at each other, slight awe in their expressions. "That explains why I can sense you when you're in danger and when you transform," the young man whispered.
"I always knew Tuxedo Mask loved me," Serena said with a grin.
Darien smirked. "He most certainly does." He leaned down to kiss her.
"Okay, you two. Knock it off," Raye said, the edge gone from her voice. The couple broke apart with a smile.
"So where does that leave us regarding the matter of the Rainbow Crystals?" Amy asked matter-of-factly.
"Look, I've been trying to get them to free the princess I've been seeing in my dreams. That's been my only motivation," Darien said quickly.
"We've been looking for a princess so we can protect her," Lita said, tilting her head to the side in contemplation.
"It looks like we're trying to do the same thing: get the Rainbow Crystals so we can help this princess. We're all on the same side," Serena said, her voice soft.
The other girls looked at Darien. "I agree," he said. "We're on the same side."
There were a few minutes of silence as they all contemplated the situation and each other. "Well, now that that's settled, what else did you get in your letter, Meatball Head?" Raye asked, bringing everyone back to the now.
"Oh! Well, I got a letter to take to an antique book dealer in Tokyo that I guess is holding a book for me. Something about the legends of the Moon Kingdom."
The group all looked at each other. "Do you think Mr. Cunningham knew about what we were looking for?" Amy asked.
"How could he? If he really based his guesses on comparing our pictures to those of the scouts from the paper, there wouldn't be any information there. Unless someone's been giving out interviews without telling the rest of us." Raye looked around like someone might have done just that.
"I don't think we're going to ever have an explanation for that, and right now I don't want to think about it anymore," Mina said, holding her head in her hand. "This whole situation is making my head hurt."
Lita quickly covered the priestess' mouth. "Don't, Raye. I know it's tempting, and she left herself wide open, but don't." The raven-haired girl sighed.
"I just hope Mr. Cunningham was telling the truth when he said no one but him knew our secret," Amy said as she leaned against the rail and stared out at the waves. Mina nodded as she joined her.
"He was," Serena said quietly as she and Darien turned around to do the same, soon followed by Raye and Lita on their other side. The group of them silently watched the world go by.
After another ten minutes, the other girls went to the back of the ferry to see if they could still see Cunningham Island, Lita pining a bit over the fact that Eli had decided to stay behind. Serena and Darien sat on one of the benches near the tip of the bow watching the sun disappear below the horizon and Tokyo grow larger and larger.
"You... dream about the princess?" the girl asked softly.
Darien held her closer and sighed. "Yes, I do. She asks me to bring her the crystals so she can be free again. I've always thought that by helping her I would be able to get my memories back, or at the very least understand what's going on."
"Do you think... she cares about you?"
He laid a gentle kiss on her temple. "Serena, no matter what she thinks about me, you're the one I care about the most. You are my princess. Never forget that."
"But..."
"There is no but. I love you, Serena. And to be perfectly honest..." Darien paused before completing his statement, gazing down at the girl in his arms with a sudden sense his suspicions were correct. But with that realization he also knew she couldn't accept the truth. "To be honest, there's no way she could ever compare to you," he finished finally, tilting her head up and capturing her lips with his own.
"I love you, Darien," Serena whispered after they broke apart. "Don't ever doubt it."
He nodded, and the two of them went back to gazing out at the dark water, the sun having been laid to rest for the day. And as the stars twinkled to life in the velvet expanse above them, they snuggled close, Serena promising herself that she would always protect him, and Darien promising that he would do everything in his power to make her see the princess she really was.