Sailor Moon: Fellowship of the Moon

Chapter 7: Interview with a Witch

The night was hot as ever, but that didn't stop the Heartless at all, not even the light would stop them for what they needed to do. A huge group of Shadows and Soldiers were gathered in the spot to where the old Mugen School was located. It was once the headquarters of the Heart Snatchers; the servants of Pharaoh 90, the ruler of the Tao Nebula and Bringer of Silence. The gate to the nebula was closed, but now served as the gate for the End of the World. The group was just standing there waiting for the two people who were standing there to give them orders; it was Lust and Envy. Ever since Envy had told them that another knight had come out of the woodwork, Ansem was becoming edgy. They really needed to make sure the now two knights couldn't find the others, but right now, they had something more important to do.

Their Dark Lord had learned that a certain threat he had thought long dead was now alive. A threat that might help the knights find the key to destroy him even faster before his true plan came into effect. Or worse, tell him of his plans. Envy turned to Lust and asked, "Are you sure this is where the Spies found her last after she escaped the Dungeon?" Lust turned to the little punk and said, "She was spotted near here five days ago. She couldn't have gone very far, she doesn't have enough energy to go anywhere else." He shrugged in defeat of this argument. He turned to the Heartless that were present and said, "Listen up, Punks! The Heartless immediately straightened up and awaited instructions as Envy spoke up, "Find the girl in white! Search everywhere for her; remember…Failure ain't an option!"

With that said in order, the Shadows and Soldiers merged into the shadows and were off in search of the mysterious girl in white that Envy and Lust spoke of. Envy smirked, "You've got nowhere to run…and nowhere to hide, Memory Witch."

Three Days Later

Everyone had learned that Frey was now a changed individual around Ami and Aaron. Everyone, aside from Trista, Michelle, and Amara who had never met him, were still a little weary around him. Especially Serena, who was still duking it out with him with the whole, 'Ami wasn't pretty enough' debate, but nonetheless, they decided to give him a chance. Well today was the day that Ami was taking Rini, Serena, Hotaru and Lita to his house. The thing was that the four of them wanted to check it out for themselves and meet Aaron's sister, Sarah. Mina and Rei couldn't make it due to the fact that Mina had Volleyball practice and Rei had Shrine duties.

They had reached the house and Serena was just in awe at it. She hysterically proclaimed, "This house is amazing! It's like looking at a fusion between Eastern and Western houses!" Rini, who was a little embarrassed, "C'mon Serena, it's not that big of a deal." Hotaru looked a little nervous, and Lita caught that, "Hey, what's wrong, Hotaru? You seem a little flushed." Rini caught that and asked in concern, "Are you alright, Hotaru?" She nodded in response, "I'm alright, it's just…I'm a little nervous." Ami looked at her and noticed she had the same look she had when she first met Aaron.

But despite that, Serena just shrugged and said, "Oh, come on, Hotaru. Aaron's not that kind of boy. He won't take advantage of a girl." She then grimaced as a thought came into her head, "Now that Asapin guy…he's the one you need to watch out for." The girls just sighed at her last comment; it was obvious that Serena still hadn't forgiven him. Ami walked over to the door and knocked, and Sarah was the one to answer it. As she opened the door, she was surprised to see Ami back. She smiled brightly as she jumped at her for a hug attack, "Big Sis!" Ami was a little surprised by the hug attack, but caught her and hugged back in return.

The girls in general were a little confused at this as they asked, "Big Sis?" Lita got a sly smile as she walked over and whispered in Ami's ear, "So you and Aaron are tying the knot, already eh?" Ami blushed a bit from that and protested, "Lita! Aaron's a friend! Sarah just likes to call me that!" This was true, ever since Ami started coming over to escort Aaron to study sessions, Sarah was growing fonder and fonder of Ami. Almost to the point that she saw her as a big sister. It was then Sarah also took notice of Hotaru, "Hey, Hotaru!" Hotaru then shied away behind Rini as Sarah let go of Ami and ran towards the girls her age, "It's good to see you again." Rini asked her friend, "You know her, Hotaru?" Sarah nodded as she answered, "Yep! We go to the same school, and we're in the same class."

But Sarah remembered that they were all standing outside, "Oh, I'm sorry. Here, everybody, come on in." And not wanting to be rude, she let them all in. She led them all into the living room as they all plopped on a couch or a chair. Serena just groaned as she relaxed herself on the sofa, "Ugh, walking all the way here was a killer to my feet." Rini shot back, "it wasn't that difficult; you're just being lazy." Serena and Rini then got into a verbal fight on what was lazy and what wasn't while Ami asked Sarah, "Oh Sarah, I forgot to ask if Aaron was around?" She nodded, "Yeah, I can take you to him."

Ami was about to refuse, but Sarah pulled her towards the stairs and they went up with everyone just smirking at the sight. Lita mused to herself, 'I guess Sarah's thinking into the future. Hmm, Ami Masters; it's got a nice ring to it.'

Upstairs
Ami was following Sarah to where Aaron was, but had passed his room. Ami was about to point that out, but stopped as they reached to what appeared to be a bathroom. Sarah opened a crack big enough to look into, and Ami didn't like where this was going. But she did hear arguing in the bathroom, as Sarah motioned her to come over, "C'mon here, Sis, you've got to see this." Ami protested, "I'm not sure if it's a good idea…" then Sarah just pulled her in as Ami caught a glimpse as to what she was looking at.

Frey was in there and had on nothing but a towel, "Aaron, would you hurry it up! I need a major cleansing here!" Ami blushed at what she was looking at; she wanted to turn away, but for some reason she couldn't. Just then, the screen glass door to the shower opened a crack as a hand pulled out to grab a towel. The door then opened up to show Aaron, dripping wet and in nothing but a towel.

Ami then just blushed even more as her face resembled a cherry. She noticed that both boys were the exact same built; slim but muscular; a combination of both strength and speed in some athletics. In all her life she never did or saw anything like this. She was compelled to get out of there, but found that she couldn't stop staring at Aaron. "Okay, you want the shower, take it. I'm done already." The girls immediately bolted, taking refuge in the storage closet next to the bathroom. Aaron got out of the bathroom and closed the door, and walked straight into his room.

The two girls were squished together as they took notice that no one saw them and got out. Ami breathed in relief but then turned to Sarah, who was smirking, and asked, "Sarah. Why did you do that?" She just simply looked innocent and just asked, "What? I thought it might help." Ami asked, "Help with what?" "Help you fall in love all over again." Ami just lowered her head in hopelessness, until she finally just sighted in defeat.

After that little incident, Aaron came down stairs, dressed in blue jeans, an orange T-shirt, and his trademark red jacket, which he had tied around his waist. They were all in the backyard talking while Rini, Hotaru, and Sarah were taking care of a class assignment involving sunflower seeds. Aaron asked, "So I take it Hotaru goes to Mugen as well, huh?" Ami nodded, "yes, she and your sister seem to both be in the same class, so I don't think it wasn't possible for your sister not to know Hotaru when we came here." He smiled as he continued, "I'm just glad that she's making friends here as she did back home."

Just then, Frey was behind them suddenly, drinking a soda and leaning on the screen door. No one took notice for a minute, until Serena did. She nearly shouted, "FREY!" He was wearing black jean pants with the knees torn, a sleeveless yellow t-shirt with a few belt straps on them, and was holding a black vest with a few buckles as well. Frey smiled as he saw Serena's reaction and teased, "I see the lovely Serena missed me." Serena was blushing a little bit, but still peeved off, "Oh, please! You look like a pimp! What are you doing here?" Frey finished the soda, and plopped right behind Aaron, and wrapped his left arm around him, which annoyed Aaron, "I stayed over here for the night." The three girls looked a little shocked at that as he continued on, "Aaron and I slept together..." Aaron corrected that, "...in the same room. He slept on the floor." Frey continued on, "Aaron was being completely indecent." "The only thing indecent is in your head.", Aaron shot back. The girls looked a little weirded out by this discussion; even Ami was a little confused, but still felt even weirder after she saw Aaron in nothing but a towel.

Just then, Frey went into Pheromone Boy mode as his eyes spotted Hotaru. Aaron and Ami saw this and shouted to Hotaru in unison, "Hotaru, make sure you watch out for this guy. He's something of a pervert!" Frey was taken back by that as he shot back, "You guys!" Hotaru heard that and simply said with a smile, "Okay!" But somehow, he ended up helping them anyway as he was showing the three how to plant the seeds well enough to be sure they would have enough sunlight.

The others were just watching playfully at the scene with Frey acting like a big brother to the girls. Serena, on the other hand, was keeping a close eye on him. Aaron and Ami looked at each other for a moment, until Aaron broke the silence, "Sorry about what happened during Sunday." She shook her head, "It's alright, Aaron, like you said; something came up. I'm sure it was important no matter what the situation." Aaron smiled at her understanding, until Lita brought up a certain question, "Hey, I know that your Dad's got work and all, but what about your Mom? I mean, you hardly ever talk about her. What does she do?"

Aaron didn't want to answer that question, but he didn't want to say anything to sound suspicious. So he made up an excuse to answer that. He acted like he had suddenly forgotten something, "Oh darn it! I just forgot, I have to go to the Mini Mart to get something." Frey looked a little confused, but seemed to understand the message. He got up and apologized to the ladies, "I'm sorry, young princesses, but I have to help with a few things." Aaron got up before Ami asked him what was wrong, but he said, "It won't take long so you guys can make yourselves at home until we get back". With that, he and Aaron were out of there before anyone else said anything to object or kept them from going.

Lita looked a little confused, "That was weird; all I asked was what his mother did for a living." Serena looked even more confused but thought hard about it, "I know, it's almost as if he's trying to hide something here." Rini looked to Sarah and asked, "Sarah. Is something wrong with him?" She shook her head and just said, "It's kind of personal for him. He said I shouldn't talk about it to anyone for him. It's something he needs to talk about on his own." Ami however was deep in thought about this, 'He acted like that when I talked about my mother. What's troubling him about the subject of his mother?' She would have to ask him that as soon as he and Frey came back.

Near Town

Down the alleyways and busy streets and sidewalks, a figure in a white trench coat with a hood, and carrying a white parcel bag, was running away from someone, or something. The figure was bumping into others as he or she ran away; people were arguing that she should watch where the person was bumping into, but the stranger didn't care. The character just had to run away as fast as the person could.

No one noticed, but on the ground, shadows seemed to move on their own, following the figure in white. Their mission was simple: to find the one in White, and bring them back. Unfortunately, for both of them, they would both bump into both help and trouble.

Mini-Mart

Aaron and Frey walked out of the Mini Mart as slow and possible; considering the new owner wasn't doing much. Aaron quivered at the thought of coming back to this place; this is where he first bumped into the Heartless and saw that horrible moment they turned the original owner into one of them. But going here was better than telling the girls, especially Ami, about why his mother was never around. He just didn't feel like telling them what happened, and what happened afterward of the day that he lost her. Frey then broke the silence and asked, "Why didn't you just tell them the truth instead of making an excuse?" Aside from the girls, the only ones he had told the secret of his family was Ceros and Frey, after he kept bugging him about it. Aaron just simply shrugged, "I'm not really sure why I didn't. I guess I just don't want to dwell in the past." Frey insisted on, "You keep this bottled up, it's going to make things much worse. Plus, it might cause you to go astray from the girls; you might even hurt Ami." Aaron thought about it, but he just wasn't sure on how they would take it; he wasn't even sure how Ami would take it.

Unknown to the two, the figure in white was running down their way. And when the two rounded the corner, they crashed into the other as they all fell down flat on their butts. Aaron and Frey got up, with the stuff they had gotten from the Mini Mart completely unspoiled, and turned to see who they had bumped into. They both saw that the figure in white was a fourteen-year-old girl. She was slim but slender, her skin was slightly pale, but snow-white as the sun's light touched her. She had bright blonde hair that was only long enough to touch her upper back and a long right bang that went down her neck. Aaron asked, "Hey you alright?" Frey on the other hand, went into Gentleman Mode, and held out his hand, "Allow me, madam."

She opened her eyes and the two could see that they were Crystal Blue Clear eyes. She looked at them and was about to yell at them, until she saw the rings on their fingers. She instantly recognized them and saw an opportunity to escape. She looked up to the one that was closest, Aaron, and gave him a pleading look with a worried tone, "You have to help me!" She bolted right up and ran into Aaron's arms, with Frey going all bug eyed that his charms didn't work this time. She began to use a little sobbing as she spoke on, "Please, help me! These strange creatures are chasing me! You two are the only ones who can help me!"

Aaron and Frey looked at each other wondering what to do. Just then Aaron spotted a few black splotches on the ground, and then rose up to take the shape of Shadows. Aaron and Frey were about to try and protect their new friend, but instead the Shadows just stared down and retreated back into the shadows. The two boys just stared at each other in confusion and decided not to take any chances. Aaron broke the girl away from her and said, "I think maybe we need to get you somewhere that's a little safer than here." She nodded and the three of them went out of there, unaware of the trouble that could spell them.

Hikawa Shrine
Frey phoned all Serena and the girls in his cell phone, stating that they needed Rei to open up a guestroom there. The girls were all wondering why they needed to be here and why a guest room. Rei sighed, "I heard a lot about that Frey guy. From what you said, Lita, he's got to be some kind of super model." Lita groaned, "Don't you have Chad?" "He's my friend, Lita! Why can't you or anyone else engrave that in your brains?" Everyone shrugged at that; they still couldn't believe that Chad was here and yet Rei hadn't even thought about him being boyfriend material.

"Ami!" Ami recognized that voice as it belonged to Aaron. She and the others saw him, Frey, and to Ami's surprise, a girl dressed in white coming up the stairs. However, when Frey got up, he saw Rei and immediately ran up to her. He grabbed her hands into his own, and smoothly said with a crinkled cool smile, "You must be the raven-haired psychic beauty, Rei. Aaron's told me so much about you. You can read my palms, anytime." Rei blushed madly and began to stutter as to how smooth he was. Just then, Aaron grabbed Frey's braid and pulled him away from her, very painfully. Aaron stated, "Hold the pheromones, Pheromone Boy." Frey rubbed his braid in pain, trying to be comedic.

Then the new girl looked around the place and just said, "This is the safe place you were talking about? This place is a dump." Rei heard that and was about to kill the girl, but kept her cool. Ami was the one to ask, "So who is this, Aaron?" But before Aaron could come up with an answer, the girl bowed and stated, "My name is Naminé, and the reason I'm here is because I was being chased by a couple of unscrupulous characters." Aaron looked a little puzzled but went with it. And to everyone's surprise, including Ami's, Naminé hugged Aaron's right arm, while Aaron was getting embarrassed. "I would have been in real danger if not for the efforts of Aaron-sama.", she said in a dreamy tone as she rubbed her cheek on his arm.

Everyone just stared in shock as she did that, but Frey just pouted, wishing it was his arm. Ami, however, was for some strange reason, was getting very annoyed at this. But everyone asked a little confused, "Aaron-sama?" Rini seemed to figure it out, "So in other words, you put the moves on her after you saved her." Mina had to smirk at this, "Seems like you're learning from your new friend, Aaron." Aaron simply stated, "No, you guys have got it all wrong!" "They got what wrong?" Everyone turned at the stairs and saw none other than Amara and Michelle. Hotaru was happy to see them, but Naminé just cringed at the very sight of them. Which caused her to hug Aaron even tighter, "Oh Aaron, those girls might be the ones after me? Please save me!" The two new ones looked on in confusion, while Ami felt so angry at this scene, she felt like she was about to explode.

So instead of exploding, she huffed and walked away, "Aaron, you really are a jerk." Aaron tried to say something to explain the situation to her, but she was long gone. Aaron just looked on in defeat while Naminé continued to hold his arm. Frey just shook his head in shame, "I can't believe you would stoop as low as flirt with another girl. And you call me a pervert?" Aaron was pretty miffed at that, as he was able to break free and tried to strangle Frey. "I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU, PERVERT!" The girls just looked on in amusement, while Naminé just looked on. She then took notice of a shadow in the trees as it disappeared before anyone noticed. 'They know where I am now. This is not good.'

Hollow Bastion

Library

The section of Hallow Bastion to which was known as the Library, was in fact more like the Taj Mahal of Libraries. There were books lined up from top to bottom in shelves that went on forever. There were ladders, stairways, and elevators that would go on forever to reach them. In the books were knowledge lost or forgotten for so long, that this place would be the ultimate Keeper of Encarta. This was also where Envy and Lust were sitting and waiting for the report of the girl in white.

Envy was sitting Indian style, while Lust was reading what appeared to be a romance novel. After a few minutes of waiting, Envy shot up screaming, "UGH, THIS IS BORING! WE SHOULD BE FIGHTING THE SAILOR DORKS OR THE FELLOWSHIP, NOT GO ON SOME STUPID HUNTING TRIP! IF I DON'T DO SOMETIHG THAT INVOLVES BUTT KICKING, I'LL GO OUT OF MY MIND!" Lust put her book down and replied, "That's a short trip." Envy was about to take all his frustration out on her, until they saw Gluttony coming down. When he met up with them, he reported, "The Shadows have spotted the Memory Witch." Envy couldn't be happier as he heard that piece of news.

He hopped down from where he was sitting, "So where is the little troublemaker?" "She's in a shrine in the Tokyo Downtown district." Lust smirked, "Well, if she's there, then obviously the Sailor Scouts and the now two knights will show up to protect her as well." Gluttony jumped up and down, "Oh Lust, please let me go! It's time I had some Sailor Scouts for Dinner!"

Lust thought about it; Gluttony was powerful when his full potential was released, but he was something of an idiot. But she thought it would be a good way to get rid of them. She shrugged and stated, "Alright, you can go, but Envy and a squad of Shadows are going with you." Envy shouted, "Booyah!" He and Gluttony went for the elevator to leave for the capture team. Lust smirked as she said, "Please, make sure you bring Naminé back; after all, her little Heart of Light is one of the keys to open the Keyhole."

Hikawa Shrine

Nighttime

Rei's grandpa was not hesitant in giving Naminé a room to stay in until she could go home. She was currently sitting in the room, and so were Frey and Aaron. She wanted to talk to them about what was going on. She was sitting down in a traditional Japanese style way, sipping tea. This however was getting much up to their annoyance, as Aaron asked, "Are you at least going to tell us. You've been sipping tea for at least ten minutes now." She stopped for the moment and smiled, "well, why don't we all come out and talk. Right, Ceroberos?" The boys looked a little surprised at this, and were about to deny everything of who she was talking about. Until Ceros popped out of Aaron's pockets and flew up to greet this girl…Naminé. Ceros smirked, "It's been a long time, Naminé. You haven't changed a bit…literally." The boys looked at each other and asked "You know her, Ceros?" He turned to them and answered, "Of course I do. Naminé was part of the Moon Kingdom. Well, actually, she was part of the kingdom to where the prince of Elysian came from. She's a memory witch."

The boys looked a little confused, "Memory Witch?" Naminé explained, "Basically, I have the gift, or curse, to look into and record memories from everyone around. It's also possible for me to rewrite them as well." Frey looked a little unsure of this as he stated, "I find it kind of hard to believe that you're able to do any of that." She looked at him with an eyebrow up as she decided to prove it to him. "When you were two, the first word you ever said was 'babe'." Frey was a little shocked at that, while Ceros and Aaron said in unison, "I guess he was born a pervert." Frey shot them both a death glare as Naminé continued on.

"And you, Aaron..." Aaron was prepared for anything she would say about him. "Your mother died giving birth to your little sister." Anything but that as he went a little shocked at that. She then went on, "You didn't know what death was back then, and when your dad explained it to you, well, you didn't take it as well. You cried for at least a month, and somehow came up with the idea that if you ever got close like that it would be doomed. If you ever loved to someone in some way, whether family or friend, you'd end up losing them again." Aaron was starting to get a little angry if she kept going on any further. But then she said something that cheered him up, "But for some strange reason, you ended up loving your sister. And that alone kept you going, but aside from your family, the death of your mother kept you from making other friends. Until you met Ami that is."

Aaron then calmed down a bit, "Okay, so I guess that's the reason the Heartless are after you." She shook her head and answered, "No not really. The reason is that I'm an informant to Diz." The three looked at each other and asked, "Diz?" She nodded as she explained, "Diz is sort of like me, a survivor of the Silver Millennium." She then explained further, "He's been keeping an eye on the Heartless problem for some time. And then a couple of weeks later, when he learned that you guys, the Fellowship, had risen again, he figured it would be time to go and defeat the Darkness once and for all."

"He's basically an oracle of knowledge; he's the one that might be able to help you defeat Ansem once and for all, as well as vanquish the Heartless and Nobodies before they have the chance to find the Seven Princesses." Then Frey was the one to ask, "The Seven Princesses? You mean seven of the Sailor Scouts?" She shook her head as she tried to explain, "No not really, no one knows who they are, but they are the ones who will open the Door that leads to the source of all hearts; Kingdom Hearts."

Then Aaron decided to ask the questions, "Kingdom Hearts? What's that, and what does it have to do with the Heartless and Nobodies?" She shrugged, "I'm not really sure. Diz didn't tell me much about it as he's still trying to figure it out himself." The boy's nearly fell over at that as they sweat dropped in frustration at this situation. Aaron muttered, "She's being chased by the Heartless for something she's completely in the dark about? Oh, I'm starting to worry about this whole thing now."

Outside the Room

Rei, Serena, and Mina were sneaking behind the doors trying to get a better chance of listening in on what was going on in there. Along with them was Ami, which she was trying to be the voice of reason in this group. Thought secretly, she too wanted to know what they were talking about; she was pretty upset that a girl was grabbing on to him like that. She felt so mad at watching her to that, and then a thought struck her, 'Wait a minute! Does this mean…I'm jealous? No, no it can't be that! Maybe I'm just concerned is all.'

"It's not exactly lady like to be sneaking in on a conversation."

The girls were completely startled as they turned around and saw Amara standing there. She went on, "You know, Ami, as the most mature out of them, aren't you ashamed?" Ami was just twiddling her fingers trying to come up with an answer, until Serena ran straight up to Amara and spoke for her, "C'mon, Amara, what is she supposed to do when the one boy she really likes locks himself in another room with another girl? What would you do?" Amara was starting to get the picture now; Ami was the kind of girl who couldn't handle getting her feelings hurt, nor hurting the other person. She didn't know Aaron for long, but she could tell that, like Darien to Serena, he was true and would never hurt anyone on purpose. So she decided to ease them, "come on, you should know. Aaron doesn't look like the kind of guy to do that sort of thing to a girl he cares about. He can handle school work and his bike, but I don't think he can handle things as difficult as the opposite sex."

The girls had to admit to that; Aaron, when it came to girls, was completely dense at that. But then Amara decided to tease them a little, "but you know, under the right circumstances, there's no telling what could happen." Then the girls got a worried look; even Ami was starting to worry. Then Amara decided to tone it down a bit, "Don't worry, Ami, I'm pretty sure that Aaron will be a gentleman in the end. Probably." Ami asked worried, "What do you mean 'Probably'?" Just then, the sliding doors opened to reveal Aaron and Naminé, coming out of the room with Frey behind them.

He looked around and was a little confused as to what was going on. He asked, "Uh, what are you guys doing?" The girls were trying to come up with a pretty good excuse, but Amara just stood there with her arms crossed, being the one to look down on them in shame. Ami on the other hand just got up and bowed apologetically, "I'm very sorry, Aaron. I didn't mean to snoop on you like that." But before he had time to ask about that, she bolted away from there and was out of sight. He stood there a little confused until Amara pointed out, "You might want to go talk to her. I'm sure she'd listen to you." Aaron turned and saw Frey and Naminé nodding their heads to let him go and get her.

He then ran after her, but as he disappeared, Amara felt a chill in the air, as did Rei. Frey looked a little puzzled as he and Naminé looked on. Rei got up and said, "Frey, keep an eye on Naminé, alright. We're just going to check around a little bit." He just nodded as they all left and were gone from sight, and Naminé said, "You might want to transform in case something goes wrong." He nodded as he brought his ring up and shouted, "PERSIAN PRINCE ARMOR ACTIVATE!" Suddenly his whole body glowed bright yellow as his whole body was wrapped in bands of sand and finally engulfed in a small windy sand cocoon. It then bursted open and out was Frey in his armor and in a small flash, was gone.

Outside

Ami was standing near the shrine entrance, leaning on it and hung her head in shame at what she did. She felt so low on spying on them; she should have learned to trust her new friend more. She couldn't believe she was acting like this; first she was angry at when she saw him with the girl, Naminé, and stormed off. And then second, she spied on him with the others (although they couldn't hear a thing of what they were talking about.) without a consent of consideration for their privacy. 'What's wrong with me? Why am I acting this way?' She hated herself for what she did, and as she did, she started to cry.

Aaron had gotten out to try and keep up to her, and looked around to try and talk to her. He knew she deserved to have an explanation and try to clear things up between them. It was then he found her leaning on the shrine's entrance, and he walked up to her, in fear she would run off without him trying to explain. He got up to her without her even noticing and spoke out, "Ami, I…" she was startled when he heard him, but she felt she would have made things even worse if they talked, "Aaron, please just go.", she said in a quivering voice. Aaron asked out of concern, "Are you okay?" "I'm sorry, Aaron. I have to go.", she said as she tried to go, but stopped as Aaron lightly grabbed her shoulder and lightly spun her around to see that she was crying.

She spoke out quivering, "I'm sorry, Aaron. I shouldn't have judged you like that. It's just…when I saw her like that on you, I…I just couldn't bear it." She then sobbed uncontrollably, and didn't understand why. It felt as if her heart was breaking for some unknown reason, and she couldn't help it. Aaron could understand it somehow, and he couldn't bear to see her cry like this. He realized that whenever she was sad like this, he became sad in seeing her in so much pain. He walked up to her and brought her close to him and held her close.

He said to her in an attempt to comfort her, "Ami…I would never hurt you like that. I'm really sorry, but Naminé was just teasing like that." He then held her close to him as he continued, "Your friendship and you alone mean more to me than another girl. I know I've only met you for what seems like a month now, but I'd do anything to protect you from getting hurt like this." Ami stopped crying as he heard him say those very words, 'Aaron'. She looked up to him and he looked down to her vice versa; it felt strange to them both, but it felt like they were in this situation before.

At that moment, the two of them were slowly drawing closer to each others faces. They closed their eyes as what they felt their lips would touch, when all of a sudden they hear hissing sounds. The two snapped back into reality, and were a little embarrassed at what they just realized to see Gluttony and a horde of Shadows at the front gate of the Shrine. "My, my, please don't mind me and my friends here.", he said amused at this scene. Ami and Aaron blushed at what they were about to do a minute ago, but Aaron asked, "What do you want, you tubby creep!"

Gluttony's eyes then went from dumb to a look of malice, "Give me the Girl in White and walk away…otherwise you're a dead man!" The Shadows all clenched their claws in anticipation of killing this human. Aaron took the threat very seriously as he clenched his fists; he turned to Ami and said, "Ami, I need you and the others to look after Naminé." Ami was about to protest to this; she couldn't let him face these monsters like this, and she couldn't transform without risking her secret identity. But Aaron turned around and gave her a reassuring smile, "don't worry, Ami, I wont let anything happen to you or the others. And don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Ami then suddenly had a feeling of trust in this action, like she believed he'd come out of this alright. So she nodded, "I…I trust you, Aaron. Just don't get hurt.", and she ran back inside, but she would come out again to protect him. He made sure that she was gone from sight and turned to the fat man and his little monsters. "Listen up, Tubby. I don't know what you and your creepy friends want with Naminé, but let me tell you, you're not getting anywhere near her!" Gluttony just smirked as he stated, "Then I guess the only way to her, is if we step over your cold, dead corpse. In which of course, that proposal's acceptable."

He signaled the Shadows to charge straight at him with their claws at the ready, while Aaron stood there and protecting his ground. Even though he was standing bravely, he was screaming on the inside, 'CRAP! WHY DIDN'T I TRANSFORM BEFORE THIS HAPPENED? I'M TOTALLY SCREWED!' As the Heartless were nearing their target, a voice shouted out, "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" Then suddenly, a barrage of flame balls hit the Heartless, causing them to burn and dissolved into black mist. Then another voice shouted, "URANUS EARTH SHAKING!" Then suddenly, a bright orange yellow ball of energy was charging straight at the other squad of Heartless and when it hit them, it shook them up causing them to lose their balance and left them disoriented.

Aaron turned to his left to where the attacks were fired at and saw Sailor Mars coming out of the shadows, along with another Sailor Scout he never met before. She was tall, had short blonde hair, and wore a similar Sailor type outfit like the other Sailor Scouts, except it was all white, Navy Blue, and had a yellow ribbon on her chest piece. Also her gloves were short unlike the others, and her boots were only big enough to reach her ankles and had belt straps on them. Mars claimed, "It's brave of you to stand in for us…" and the unknown scout finished, "…but we can handle it from here, Peanut." Aaron was relieved to see them, but Aaron felt a little insulted at the newer Scout's comment as he sweat dropped and muttered, "Peanut?"

Gluttony and the remaining Heartless looked towards the two scouts, and saw that Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mini-Moon, Saturn, and another Scout dressed like the other one. Only she had high heel shoes and an aqua colored bow on her chest, and on her choker was a cross with an aqua gem in the middle. Sailor Moon stated, "You go after a young woman's heart like beasts in the night. I wont allow it!" She and the other scouts got into battle position, "I'm Sailor Moon" Mini-Moon stated, "and I'm Sailor Mini-Moon!" And the new scouts shouted, "And guarded by Uranus' star, I am Sailor Uranus!" the other one spoke out, "In the name of Neptune's star, I am Sailor Neptune!" And all the other scouts shouted, "And we are the Sailor Scouts!" And Sailor Moon and Mini-Moon shouted, "And in the name of the Moon…we shall punish you!"

Gluttony was now drooling like crazy at this moment; whiched caused all the Sailor Scouts, including Uranus and Neptune, to shutter in fear. He simply stated, "Oh, this is wonderful, all these pretty girls here. I could eat you all up." He then got a devilish grin; "In fact…" he lunged right at them, like a starving beast as he opened his mouth as it got wider and wider. The scouts were ready for an attack on the fat weirdo, until someone shouted, "SANDSTORM!" Then suddenly a whirlwind of sand came from under Gluttony and shot him up in the air, with the sands encircling him. The blinding sands cutting at him, until some of his form was torn off by the speed of the whirlwind. Until at last the whirlwind stopped, and he fell to the ground back with the Heartless, all scrapped up and bleeding.

The girls looked in confusion as to what that was, until a voice was heard from the roof of the temple. "That's disgusting, advancing on a girl like that on the first date." The girls looked up to see none other than Phoenix Blade, and standing right next to him, was an unknown character dressed up like an Arabian bandit. "You should wait until you get to know the girl, and then if she wants to, then have her for dessert." Phoenix just sweat dropped as he smacked his associate on the back side of the head, "You idiot!" The scouts sweat dropped, but retained their composure as they saw Gluttony get up, and to their surprise, recover and heal all the wounds and missing flesh. The knights jumped down and Phoenix proclaimed, "We won't allow you to harm the future Neo Queen Serenity and her Royal Court, Tubby. I, Phoenix Blade, swear it by my life." The stranger brought out two dangerous looking scimitars with Gothic vine like designs on them and held them out in a fighting stance, "And I, Persian Prince, the fifth of the Fellowship of the Moon, protector of all women's hearts, swear it and engrave it unto my heart."

Sailor Venus asked Artemis, "He's one of the Fellowship?" Artemis just stood there dumbfounded and finally answered, "I'm taking a wild guess and say…yes, I think he is." Gluttony then broke the silence and smiled, "Oh, goody, goody. More playmates; I guess the only way to get the Girl in White is to beat all you! Well, I can handle the scouts; you guys can have fun with the Heartless." He then snapped his fingers and then a bright circle came lighting up the ground between them. And suddenly, a giant armor suit with the main body shaped like a bell came out of it. The forearms, and lower legs and feet, floating with no upper arms or thighs were connected to the beast. It was colored purple, gray, and black. With the Heartless insignia on the chest; the head was ball shaped looking like the helmet, with the visor shut and no eyes and a spike protruding on the forehead of it.

Gluttony commanded the creature, "Guard Armor, take care of the Knights, while handle the Scouts." The Guard Armor walked forward to the Knights, with its feet shaking the ground as it stepped forward. Gluttony jumped forward to the girls as the scattered and got ready to attack. Uranus made the first move; she lifted her right hand as it glowed with bright yellow orange energy, "URANUS WORLD SHAKING!" She thrusted her hand into the ground with the massive ball of energy headed for the blob man. Neptune lifted her hands into the air, and then a massive amount of bright aqua blue energy gathered at her hands, "NEPTUNE DEEP SUBMERGE!" And launched the power ball straight at Gluttony. He just stood there, but opened his mouth as the attacks headed right for him. And to everyone's surprise, he gobbled them up with no problem or having to get pushed back.

Sailor Uranus and Neptune stared in disbelief as they witnessed to what happened, "What the…?", Uranus questioned. Neptune deduced, "He seems to be able to absorb our attacks!" "And that ain't all, Super Babes!" Everyone heard that voice and the other Scouts were able to recognize it, as they all turned towards the trees to where it came from. It was Envy as he was sitting on a tree branch; Sailor Jupiter shouted, "You coward! Why don't you come down here and fight us?" He merely shrugged, "Ugh, it's not my style to fight weaklings." Jupiter was about to go over there and slug the punk one. He then continued, "Besides, absorbing attacks isn't all what Gluttony can do. Right, Big Guy?" Gluttony smirked as he clenched his fists as they glowed with energy; his right glowing yellow orange, and the left aqua green. He then brought them up over his head, "WORLD SHAKING AND DEEP SUBMERGE!", He launched them forward towards the Scouts, and Uranus and Neptune's attacks were shot right back at them.

They were able to dodge them as the blasts made contact to the ground they were standing on, and was obliterated. The scouts stared in terror as they realized that not only the attacks were absorbed, but returned right back at them. Envy smirked, "Gluttony may look like a fat idiot, but underneath that demeanor hides the viscous nature of a beast out for blood. Human flesh, so to speak." The Scouts got back up and were resolved not to make any mistakes in this fight right now.

Meanwhile, the two knights were easily taking out the Shadows; Phoenix Blade was taking the half he was fighting with ease, as those within close range were easily taken out by his Buster Sword, and those in long range he easily took out with a few swipes of his Phoenix Flame Talons. With the Persian Prince, he was already finishing them out as he shouted, "SANDS OF TIME: SLO MO!" as he said this, he vanished without a trace for a split second, and then reappeared again in a second. He spun his swords around for a moment and stopped, as that happened, the heartless he faced were all coming apart like Sushi and dissolved. Phoenix watched the whole thing and muttered, "Showoff"

Just then, a huge right fisted forearm shot straight at the two like a cannonball. They were able to dodge it as it crashed into the ground on which they were standing on and it was brought back to the Guard Armor by an invisible force. They looked at it and back to each other; Persian asked, "You want this one?" Phoenix nodded, "Uh, how about you?" They looked at each other for a moment, until the Guard Armor launched both its fists at them, but they dodged nonetheless, and landed a good long way from the beast. They looked at each other and agreed, "Together then." They brought out their blade weapons and charged straight at the Guard Armor, prepared to expect the unexpected from this opponent.

The Scouts were having their hands full as they did their best to try and fend against Gluttony. Knowing of the extent of his powers, he tried their best from getting him to eat their attacks but to no avail. When Mars performed her Mars Flaming Shooter attack, he ate it up and out of his mouth came a thousand flaming arrows at them. And with Mini-Moon's Pink Sugar Heart Attack, he opened his mouth and out came a barrage of hearts hitting them and annoying them.

Back with the knights, it wasn't proving a good fight for the two as they both continued to dodge and evade the Guard Armor's projectile limbs. Ceros had mentioned that maybe the center of the creature could be its weak spot so they had to go for that. The tricky part was to try and get to the center without getting knocked back by the limbs, and it was proving difficult. Phoenix was able to fly up and distracted the Arms as they kept trying to pummel him, but luckily his sword made for an excellent shield. The left arm charged straight at him, but he was able to catch it, while the right arm charged straight at him.

The Phoenix Buster Sword charged up with flames as he brought the blade over his head, "PHOENIX WING!" He threw the left hand right at the right hand and slashed the sword down. This sent a huge wave of flaming energy straight at the arms and made contact with them; the tremendous power caused the arms to crack and then shatter into a million pieces. Phoenix flew down below to help Persian as best as he could now that the arms were done for.

Persian Prince was actually doing a good job of dodging the legs as they charged at him from time to time. He dodged them with a few acrobatic flips and jumps as they charged or kicked at him. He figured now was the time to stop playing with them as he back jumped over them, "CHAIN DANCE!" He brought out the chain that was holstered on the right side of his belt satchel, and spun in around him like a gymnastic would. He landed and charged straight at the legs, twirling the chain around him in fluid movements. He then shouted, "SANDS OF TIME: MACH SPEED!" He then accelerated in a blinding speed and spun around the legs, trapping them with the chain. He suddenly stopped and had the chain wrapped around the legs, and with a quick tug of the chain, it sliced up the legs into tiny pieces.

The two knights regrouped together and commented one another; Phoenix said, "Nice job" Persian commented back, "You weren't so bad yourself." But then they noticed that the Guard Armor torso and head, which were the only remaining pieces of their opponent left, spun around in a blinding speed, and zigzagged straight at them. They couldn't dodge it in time and were knocked around a few times by the armored twister. They fell flat on their butts after it came around for another attack; Ceros shouted to them, "C'mon you guys, do something!" Persian and Phoenix got back up, and Persian held the Dagger of Time from his belt to activate it, "SANDS OF TIME: FREEZE THE MOMENT!" And then as the Guard Armor neared they, it and everything else froze in place, leaving Ceros and the two knights unaffected.

He turned to Phoenix Blade, who also was unaffected, and shouted, "The sands don't have long until time goes back on, so finish it!" Phoenix nodded as he spun his blade, preparing for his ultimate attack. He used his Phoenix Flight and jumped high in the air, "PHOENIX INFERNO!" He then launched the tremendous phoenix shaped flame at the Guard Armor as time started again. The flames seared and melted the armor until it dissolved the armor into black mist, with the Dark Heart Crystal shattering and dissolving as well.

The Scouts were getting a little tired from all the dodging, as was Sailor Saturn as she tried to keep up. Even though Mistress Nine was no longer in her, she still had lingering moments when she would collapse. This was one of those as she clenched her chest and fell to the ground on her knees. Sailor Mini-Moon watched in horror, "Saturn, no!" Gluttony saw this as an easy target, "Ooh, Finger Food!" he launched himself straight at her with his mouth exposing his teeth. Saturn watched in horror and closed her eyes as the inevitable was about to come, but suddenly a whoosh of sand rushed over and Saturn disappeared. Gluttony only got gravel in his mouth as he got up and looked around for his prey, until he noticed the figure holding her a few feet away.

Saturn opened her eyes to see what had happened, and saw she was being held up off her feet, by the Persian Prince. He shouted back to the overgrown blob of a man, "Going after a non-moving target, eh? You're a disgrace to men!" He looked down to her and asked, "You okay?" All she could do at that moment was stare and blush in embarrassment at the one who rescued her. The Scouts were pretty relieved to see her alright, including Mini-Moon. Gluttony clenched his teeth and was about to charge straight at them, until the Phoenix Buster sword stabbed him right through his stomach, causing him to fall down on the ground, with blood coming out. Phoenix stated, "No more midnight snacks for you, Buddy."

Suddenly, Gluttony disappeared, as did Envy from the trees. Everyone looked around to try and find them both, but looked up and saw on the temple roof that Gluttony was being lifted by Lust and Envy was standing right next to her. She sneered at Mercury, remembering what happened on that day she tried to tempt her, but looked back at the knights. "It would seem that we took you knights too lightly.", she stated. Envy shot back at them, "You won this round, so you can keep the Memory Witch for now." The three of them then disappeared into a black flame portal, but not before Envy finished, "but we'll get her back, and the rest of the Princesses of Hearts."

The Sailor Scouts asked in confusion, "The Princesses of Hearts?" Sailor Moon turned towards the two Knights, "Hey, do you know what they're…?" But she saw that the two were already gone, in a puff of sand.

Afterwards

The girls had all transformed back to normal, and walked back into the temple. Ami bumped into Aaron as he asked, "Ami, where were you and the others?" Ami was trying to think of a plausible answer, but Rei beat her to it, "You see, there were a few hiding places me and the others took. That's why you couldn't find us, because we didn't tell you about them before." Aaron guessed that was a plausible answer, "Well, I guess that would explain as much." Just then, Amara saw Frey running towards them, and she asked, "Where's the fire?" He stopped and took a few breaths, "Did anyone see where Naminé was?" They all nodded, then he answered, "Because I can't find her anywhere around here."

He then pulled out a note, "I found this in the room she was staying in." He read the letter out loud for everyone to hear.

Dear friends,

I'm sorry if I didn't stick around to see if everyone was alright, but I just want you guys to know that I'm all right. My bodyguard came in early and took me to a safe place. I just know that we'll meet again…when the time is right.

Love,

Naminé

P.S.: Aaron! You take care of Ami, okay? And Ami…don't worry. Aaron's all yours and only yours.

Aaron and Ami blushed at that last comment, as everyone around them smirked. The two looked at everyone and shouted, "AW, COME ON GUYS! WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!" Then a whole lot of teasing and taunting began. Ceros, who was in Aaron's pocket at the time, pondered, 'I wonder where Naminé went to? I don't know of any place safe for her.'

Naminé was walking with a stranger in a black hooded trench coat down an industrial hallway. And at the final end of the hallway were two doors, to which opened up, letting them in. In the room to which they entered, a couple of computer screens were present in front of a chair that hid a figure. The room was filled with beakers and test tubes that contained heart shaped crystals. And other screens as well, showing other worlds that weren't present on Earth. The figure behind the chair asked Naminé, in a tone showing age, wisdom, and kindness, "Have the Knights fully awaken yet, Naminé?" She nodded as she gave out her report, "Only two are present at the moment, but Ceros is with them. So it's only a matter of time before the others come."

The figure behind the chair was quiet, but then spoke out, "Good. The Fellowship of the Moon is essential for the future. It almost feels like forever that Pandora's Box was opened, and unleashed a plague upon Existence itself." The figure looked up on the screen, showing Sailor Moon, the Sailor Scouts, and the two knights. "But now, as the Plague as returned, so have the only ones who can cure it. In time, when all the pieces are together…we must step in and give our hands to help in this dangerous game called Change."

Next Chapter: Fire and Water Combine: Soul of the Samurai