Pre-Notes: Hello everyone, it's me again! I've been busy trying to rework the plot and found that with all the new ideas, including the new twist I've thought up for this chapter, that I have for this story it's most probably gonna span more than one story, maybe two or even three. Yeah, that's a lot more than I originally thought with this story, but I got this huge scene in my head involving Serena and Usagi (regular Usagi, not Chibiusa) that just doesn't fit into this story unless I make it over 60 chapters long, and that's too much even for me, so yeah, I'll probably split this huge idea between two or three stories so that I can have some time and space to spread this out as it needs to be. I've been enjoying the hell out of all these ideas and have had a lot of fun working them out in my head. Hopefully, they translate to paper decently enough that I'll have it workable over time.

Anyway, enough rambling, on with the story.

"Xxx" is talking.

'Xxx' is thinking.

Xxx is writing and/or dream sequences.

Xxx is typed text.

Chapter 4: Running From Yourself

I looked at the cops as if they where nuts. They should know by now that I wouldn't go without a fight, I've had way too much practice with these idiots to just go and submit myself to their every command. I glanced over to Hotaru with an apologetic face, before I grabbed the plates where our okonomiyaki once sat on and flung them at the cops, nailing them right in the face. With that one moment of distraction, I bought myself enough time to start running. I sprung up, sending my chair tumbling down in front of the cops and made a run for it. Lucky for me, the food court had it's own entrance, and I made a bee-line for it. Swinging the crystal door open I made a dash into the parking lot, weaving in and out between the vehicles in what I knew was a vain attempt to loose the cops. In reality, I just wanted to wear them down so I could loose them further up the path I was planning on taking.

I looked over my shoulders and saw that the two cops where keeping pace rather well. 'Great, these two appear to be in shape unlike the useless lumps I've ran into before!' I thought in dismay. This was going to take a while! I crossed the main road in front of the mall just as the traffic light changed in hopes that the incoming traffic would be enough to hold them at bay while I made some distance between us. Just as I hit the curb I looked over my shoulders again and nearly stopped to gape at these guys. They where jumping from car to car… while the cars where moving! These guys had to be superhuman to pull something like this off. I cursed at myself and started again double-time, desperate not to get caught. There was no way I was gonna risk myself going to another failure of an orphanage, nor was I gonna leave Lima and Rikku to fend for themselves either. I cut a left at the next corner and headed up the road before cutting into a nearby alley and started up the length of it. I followed it until it cut into another alleyway which I knew would lead to a wire fence. I jumped just as I reached it and made it half-way up the fence in one bound. Climbing the rest of the way, I dropped in time to see the two super-cops skid into view. Damn these guys where good! I knew that the fence wouldn't stop them, they where in too good shape to let something like that get between us, so I started running again just as they started for the fence. As I cut the corner I heard them land on the other side of the fence… but that can't be! I didn't even hear them climb it! My eyes widened as the obvious answer came to me - they somehow jumped the fence completely. Well, if they can jump from moving car to moving car just to keep up with me, I guess a stationary fence was nothing for them. I kept going…

Street after street, alleyway after alleyway passed before I realized that I wasn't gonna loose them in the city, they apparently knew this area too well and I was beginning to tire slightly while they didn't even seem winded. I looked around and saw that I was too far away from the nearest subway tunnel. If I made a break for it now, I would never make it before getting caught. With this in mind I started making a break for the city boundary. I knew the outskirts well enough to be able to loose them in the brush of the wild. I looked around as I rounded the next corner and saw to my astonishment my salvation. A man was attempting to get on his motorbike and was about to start it with his key! I ran up to him and gored him onto the floor. Wrestling the keys off of him was easy when he was lying there stunned and winded. I quickly saw which key was the appropriate one and started the bike just as the cops rounded the corner I revved it into gear and took off, just as the man I stole the bike from got up and started screaming at me. I sped off and started taking the corners and lights at speeds that would make even Rikku nervous. I didn't have time to think of that though, I needed to get out of there now!

The streets became slightly wider and the buildings fewer as I neared the outskirts of the city. Finally, I saw a sign up ahead marking the city limit and I knew I was home free. I nearly cried when I realized that I couldn't go back. They would be paying attention to the area now to see if I would return. It seems like they'll probably have East and South Tokyo under surveillance as well. That meant that if I had any hope of sneaking back into the city I'd have to go via the slums of West Tokyo… that meant running into them again… accursed monsters of the underground. Beasts that prayed on the weak and sought to control those without power or a means to defend themselves. I ran into this gang of thugs before… the results of that meeting where non too stellar.

I arrived at a random brush and thought I had gone far enough. I veered off the main road and down into the brush. I slowed down and eventually came to a stop at a particular set of woods that seemed strangely isolated from the main road.

'What a strange forest…' I thought as I laid the motorcycle down and started covering it with leaves and brush to better hide it. Once that was done I started making my way deeper into this particular set of woods. I glanced around, making sure to keep my eyes constantly moving, on the look out for threats. I may have evaded the cops for now, but I was outside of the protection of the cities barriers now, and the wilds where rumored to be overrun with youma now. I had to be extra careful now not to attract any attention to myself lest I become food for some random creepy crawler.

Eventually the sound of running water caught my attention and I began to follow it. It was a rather calming sound, more so than what I've experienced in the past. It was hard to explain at that moment, but I felt more at peace listening to that sound than I had in a very long time…

A few minutes later I finally found the source of the sound as I broke into a clearing with a small pond, a little stream feeding into it keeping it level and fresh. The clearing surrounding it was nothing but pristine, almost as if protected my the very forces of magic that seemed drawn from the planet itself.

"It's beautiful…" I couldn't help but whisper as I looked around.

"It most certainly is…" came a whisper of a reply from somewhere in the clearing. I started and looked around in desperation, looking for the source of the voice. Had the cops found me?! A giggle seemed to float about, carried by the wind that seemed to pick up slightly. "Come to the hollow… all will be answered…"

"Who are you?" I asked, looking around and finding the hollow tree that the voice had pointed out. At least, I thought it was hollow. How could a tree still be alive and be hollow at the same time, I would never know, but by Selene that's what I though I was seeing as I made my way to the tree. Suddenly, a form appeared, sitting along the roots of the big tree. My eyes bulged as I saw who it was that was speaking to me. I had seen vague photo's of her in my text books at school and in some old newspapers in the libraries around South Tokyo, but this… spirit, for a lack of a better term, this ghost that had appeared before me almost looked like my mirror image! Suddenly, the familiarity of the voice hit me like a ton of bricks. "It's you… you're the one from my dream! The light, the feeling of dying… it was you!"

"Yes, it was me… and it was also you…" she replied.

I frowned at this. "That doesn't make any sense though, how could that be me as well if I'm still alive?" I asked.

She smiled… what a sad smile she had. It was as if she had forgotten what true joy was some time ago. "Allow me to introduce myself," she said, getting up and walking over towards me. She then curtsied in front of me and with a voice that dripped with humility, said "I am Neo-Princess Small Lady Serenity… you, however, can call me Usagi."

Though I already knew who she was, not just because of her outfit, but because of the crescent-shaped moon glowing on her forehead, that still didn't ease the shock I felt when I realized that I was talking to a dead princess. Why did royalty have to creep me out so much!?

"Ok… so tell me then Usagi-sama, how could that have been me if I'm still alive," I asked, cringing at myself for sounding sow submissive in my addressing this spirit. Even if she was the spirit of royalty, she was still a ghost!

"Please, no titles are necessary, just Usagi is fine. As to your question… well, there's no easy way of saying this Serena-chan, so I'll just come out and say it."

I froze. "How do you know my name?" I asked, my eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"The same way I know everything else that I do about you silly," she said, giggling slightly. "You're my reincarnation."

My jaw nearly dropped. Did I hear this spirit say what I thought it said? "Say what?"

"You're my reincarnation," she repeated. "I'm you and you're me."

I could feel a headache coming on. "That can't be possible…" I murmured as I sunk onto the ground, not trusting my feet to keep me up anymore. She had to be lying… I can't be some royal princess reincarnated, I'm just a punk street kid trying to survive! How can I be a princess?!

"It's true I'm afraid, as much as you dislike the Royal Family, you are royalty yourself. You get that dislike from me by the way… I was having problems with my mother before I passed away… I spent the better part of seven years trying to break my link with her and I resented her a lot for keeping me tied down the way she did."

"Wait a minute," I said, a thought crossing my head. "First off, what do you mean by this 'link', and second, how can I be your reincarnation if you're out of my body? If what you're saying is true, then your existence outside of me shouldn't be possible as you would be part of my soul…"

"The link my mother and I shared is the same link that is shared between my mother and her Senshi. Each of us have a crystal of our own, however, that crystal is tied to my mother's Imperial Silver Crystal as a form of bond between my mother and her Senshi. I spent over seven years trying to break that link between my mother and I before I finally worked out what I needed to do to sever it. The link between a Senshi and her queen or leader can only be broken through the leader willingly severing the link or through the death of either leader or Senshi. I broke the link between my mother and I permanently by evolving my crystal to a higher state, then channeling my entire being into that new crystal, effectively sealing myself within it. This is how I died, and how you where reborn."

As she explained the details to me, I kept getting brief flashes of my dreams. The blinding light, the feeling of life leaving me in a torrent of energy. I shuddered involuntarily as Usagi continued.

"As to your other question, well, normally that would be true," she said, a sudden sadness overcoming her. "However, you forget the nature of the union that brought about my existence. We're a child of two worlds Serena, born of this planet and it's moon. We are two halves that make up a whole. Without me, you are incomplete, and without you, I am incomplete. It is for this reason why we need each other."

"I don't need help from a ghost!" I exclaimed. What was she trying to pull? Was she going to try to bargain for my body? Maybe try to posses me?

"This planet is in danger Serena. I have felt the signs. Chaos stirs within the heart of man once again. Without you, this planet will be destroyed from within, and without my help, you will not be able to achieve the potential you need in order to save it," she said.

This was seriously starting to disturb me. Did she just try to convince me to help her save the world? "What if I don't want to help you? What if I told you that this planet isn't worth saving?"

She looked down, obviously grief-stricken by what I had said. If spirits could cry, she would probably be bawling her eyes out now. "I know you better than you know yourself Serena… I have all of your memories… I've seen your life, your hardships. I've seen you grow up in the streets, trying to protect your friend… I saw you fight back 7 years ago as you where… assaulted by that gang, I saw you kill them after they thought they had broken you. I have done my level best to protect you through everything but as long as we are separate, I cannot do much for you. I cannot help you like this. Your powers are incomplete Rini."

"What powers!?" I screamed. Tears where now running down my face as I was forced to recall every single event that she had mentioned. "If I had powers that wouldn't have happened to me!"

"But it did happen Rini… and you used your powers to retaliate… they thought you where broken… Terra isn't easily broken however, with the will of the planet coursing through your body you went and crushed them one by one until they where all dead," she said. It was true, I was in such a rage after I was raped that I had gone on to kill every one of them with my bare hands.

"That was just me though…" I said, shaking my head ad the absurdity of the idea. "That was just me fighting back, hand-to-hand…"

"The will of the planet guided your hands that night Rini," Usagi said. "The planet lent you it's strength so that you could crush those that had wronged you with your bare hands. Didn't you notice that you where stronger than normal that night Serena? Unusually strong?"

"That was just the adrenaline," I mumbled, shaking my head in denial. Yes, I had broken bones and necks with blows that would have normally only been strong enough to bruise or maybe even lay someone out. I had worked it off as the adrenaline pumping through me. I had heard stories of people being able to do incredible things with enough adrenaline going through their body, things that would normally be beyond the measure of the human body. It was such a traumatizing experience that I had just assumed it was that and moved on.

"When we where alive previously," Usagi said, "I was christened Neo-Sailor Moon, guardian of this planet's moon. That, however, was only half of the legacy left to me. Because of the nature of the union that resulted in my creation, I also had the blood of the Earth flowing through my veins. You now carry that blood Serena. For the first time in it's history, this planet now has a Senshi to defend it."

"Wait…" I said. "You're telling me I'm… what, Sailor Earth?"

"Your proper title would be Sailor Terra, but yes, you are a Sailor Senshi, one of the new generation of Senshi. However, that's not nearly enough to combat this threat," she said. "There is a darkness stirring within the planet, trying to consume it. Have you noticed the drop in temperature lately? How it's been colder than usual?"

Now that she mentioned it, it WAS fairly chilly for summer.

"There is something robbing the planet of it's heat. I'm fairly certain that there is something growing inside this planet's core. Before long, this entire planet will be devoured and there will be nothing left," she said. "Earth and Moon must be united before this happens. My mother will be of no help, she is no longer capable of becoming Eternal Sailor Moon, as far as I could tell when I was still alive."

"What are you saying then?" I asked.

"We must merge," she said. "Our souls must be united once again or else all will be in vein."

I looked up at her through my tears, astonished at the audacity of her proposal. "You're telling me that you want to merge your soul with mines? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMNED MIND?! I won't share my soul with anyone I don't' know!"

"But you do know me…" she insisted. "I am you and you are me…"

"I'M MYSELF AND NO ONE ELSE!" I screeched. "I'M NOT LISTENING TO THIS! I WON'T LET YOU POSSES ME, YOU AND YOUR PLANET CAN GO TO HELL!" With that said, I ran out of the clearing, hoping to put as much space between myself and that spirit as I could, the tears still flowing down as I sobbed. Damn that ghost for making me so vulnerable! It was as if she had looked into the deepest, darkest corners of her mind and made her relive the worst moments of her life.

I stumbled along the woods till I tripped over something hard. I looked down to see a handle sticking out of the ground - the motorcycle! I brushed the leaves and dirt off it, hoping it still worked. I turned it on and the engine roared to life to my utmost relief. I shifted into gear and tore out of there like a bat out of hell. I made my way back to the main road and headed off again, even further from the city than I had previously planned on. I just wanted to get away. To get away from the dangers of the city, from the haunting words of the ghost, from everything that wanted to harm and hurt me.

After what seemed like hours of driving the bike finally started sputtering and shaking. I looked down and noticed I had run it dry of fuel, if I didn't get it to a charge station within the next few minutes, it would die on me. I looked around to see if I could find a spot to spend the night. I spotted another brush off in the distance and drove the sputtering bike there. I had just entered it when it finally died on me. It looked like I was on foot from now on. I dropped the bike and walked into the brush, reaching to my back pocket and taking out my butterfly knife and swinging the blade out. I really wish I had my hunting knife right now, while my butterfly was good against other humans, as it was if I ran into a youma out here this little blade would be little good against it.

I walked deeper, trying to find a source of water like I did in the other brush, but found it to be a useless effort. The sun was now finally down, night had fallen. Instead, I found a comfortable looking tree and, making sure it was uninhabited, settled in between the roots. There, against it's trunk, I fell asleep out of a bed and on the hard earth for the first time in two years.

0-0-0-0-0

The thirst was what awoke me a few hours later. It was still night time, and I was stiff as hell. Damn my body for getting soft on me in the 2 years of relative comfort. 'I'm made of tougher stuff than this damnit,' I thought as I pulled out my phone to see what time it was. It read 4:09am. Damnit, Lina was going to kill me. I look at the screen and, of course, see that I have no reception this far out of the city. No surprise there. I turned my phone off to conserve the battery on it. This little thing was the only thin I had on me to tell the time with, I needed to make it last. My stomach rumbled with hunger, I hadn't eaten anything since that okonomiyaki I had with Hotaru.

'Oh no…' I thought as she finally penetrated my thoughts. 'What will she think of me now? A hoodlum on the run from the cops? Will she even speak to me again?' That thought alone was almost enough to bring me to tears again. Finally, I find someone who I actually liked in a 'more-than-friendly' way, and I had to go and muck it up by getting caught by the police in front of her. 'And what of the girls? She lives right by them, what's to stop her from reporting the rest of them to the cops?' It was then that she realized her error - she had been careless. She had left herself much too open, much too vulnerable ever since she met Hotaru in Central Tokyo. That wasn't like her at all!

A rumble drew my attention and my hand went to pat my stomach in an attempt to calm it down when I realized exactly what I had heard. That last rumble was NOT my stomach. I crouched down and pulled my knife out as the terrifying realization hit me.

I was not alone in that brush.

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: Yeah, I know, lame, I may as well have made Rini an OC with the Sailor Terra angle, however, it is an important part of the plot for later on in the story and as such is a necessary evil. The idea of Chibiusa's ghost actually came to me in a dream I had (a very VERY vivid dream… *cough**cough*) and it seemed to make sense to me. Yes, Rini was raped at a point in her past, and I know I didn't go into too much detail as to what happened to her. No worries however, this isn't the last you'll hear of this mention, and the gory details will come out later on in the story. You'll just have to be patient. :P

That's all on my part, if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a PM or an email at djquicksilver85_at_gmail_dot_com. Till next time folks, I'll be watching…