Part 2 coming at you. Read on to see Reni's final dream!
remember: I don't own sailor moon, just this story.
Chapter 11, Part 2
As Serenity lay there sleeping, she began to dream. This dream began like many of the others, on the moon. However, she wasn't watching the dream like she normally was; she was actually part of her dream, a part of her past self yet unable to interact with her or the surroundings.
As Reni looked through the eyes of her past self, she realized that Princess Serenity was getting ready for a big event. This seems somewhat familiar, thought Reni. Just then, Princess Serenity spoke.
"I just can't wait for the ball," Serenity giggled. "Soon the Earth will be a part of the alliance and then I and Prince Endymion can get married." Princess Serenity twirled around her room filled with joy and happiness. That's why it familiar, thought Reni, it's the day where the Moon Palace is attacked. As Serenity sat down again to do up her hair, there was a knock at the door.
"Yes, come in," assuming it was her bath being delivered, but that was not the case. Instead it was Ophellia, Princess of Venus, looking very upset. The smile that Serenity was about to give fell off her face.
"Princess, we have an emergency. We need to get you to a safe place."
"What's going on Ophellia? What's happening?"
"Princess, we do not have time. We must go now."
"No. I will not. Not until you tell me what is going on." Why do I have to be so stubborn? Asked Reni, feeling somewhat annoyed at herself.
Knowing that time was of the essence, Ophellia decided to tell her, "The Earth is launching an attack. We do not have the force to repel them. The best we can do is hold them off while you and the Queen make your escape. They wanted to use the celebration as a mask for what they were really planning."
"And what are they planning?" Reni once again felt the fear of already knowing the answer.
"They are planning to overtake the kingdom and establish themselves as rulers of the galaxy."
Serenity was devastated to hear this. It was simply unbelievable. Inside, Reni was wishing that she could change what was about to happen.
"Princess, we must go now," said Ophellia, bringing Serenity back to the present. Ophellia gently grabbed her by her arm and pulled her out of the room. However, they didn't get very far when the first bomb went off. The girls ducked when the bomb hit and waited until the aftershocks were over to move. Reni felt the terror of knowing that this night would not end well. When they looked up, Serenity saw a man in front of them with a bloody sword in his hand. When she looked closer, she saw that the man was Endymion.
"Reni, please forgive me," said Endymion with regret lacing his voice.
As he tried to approach, Serenity backed away from him and let out a blood- curdling scream. "No. NOOOOO!!" Princess Serenity took off down the corridor.
"Princess!" yells out Ophellia. She moves to run after Serenity but finds that the Prince has already done so. "I knew that this would end badly."
Serenity ran blindly down the hallway while the sounds of battle surrounded her. Stop! Go back to him, Reni screamed inside of Serenity but to no avail. Princess Serenity ran down the hall, blind to everything. Serenity ran through the palace until she reached the ballroom. She wanted to cry, scream do anything to dispel the hurt and betrayal in her heart. Reni, feeling the stinging pain, wished that there was something she could do. However, by this point Endymion had caught up to the distraught Princess.
"Reni." Serenity turned at the sound of his soft voice. Reni once again felt the conflict her past self was feeling, wanting comfort yet afraid to seek it from the one who hurt you. Darien walked closer to her and Serenity tried not to move away from him.
"Why?" asked Serenity in a voice on the verge of tears. "Why is the Earth attacking the Moon? Why, when we were negotiating peace between the two planets? Why are you doing this?" Tears slipped silently down her face as she asked the questions.
"Reni, I don't know if you'll believe me or not," said Darien truthfully, "but this is what I know…" As Darien told his side of the story, Reni felt the emotions swirling through both her and her past self. Hurt, anger betrayal, and love; they were mixing around inside of her so strongly; it was hard to notice much else. Reni felt the love that they had for Darien but the pain of betrayal began to throb much harder. As Darien continued on with his story, Reni could feel that Serenity wanted to believe in Darien again but she also felt the hesitation. Just then, Darien had stopped his pacing and turned to face her.
"I know that you may not believe me, but I hope that you do." He paused. "Do you believe me, Reni?"
Reni felt the hope blossom in Serenity's chest at the use of her nickname; however she still felt the lingering doubt as she heard her past self saying, "I do. I do believe you."
Serenity began to run into his arms but before she could Darien yelled out, "Watch out!!" Serenity paused and turned to see a sword coming down at her. Move, move out of the way! Reni yelled but it was already too late. Darien had jumped in the way to take the blow that was meant for her. Darien's yell reverberated sharply through Serenity and she felt her heart crumble. Even though Darien quickly dispatched the attacker he soon collapsed from the effort. Serenity ran to his side with tears running rivers down her face.
"Darien!! Darien, please don't die. Don't leave me." Darien opened his already heavy eyes and looked up at Serenity.
"Don't worry, sweet Reni," Darien gasped out with a smile, "I will never truly leave you. We are connected by love. We will always be together." Darien closed his eyes again, breathed his last breath, and was taken away by death's hand.
"DARIEN!!" Serenity's yell reverberated through the silent ballroom. Serenity lifted her hand to move the bangs away from his face before planting a kiss on his still warm lips. Reni felt regret and despair running through her body, weighing down her spirit. Inside, she heard the thoughts that were running through Serenity's mind. I never thought this would happen. It was supposed to be a happy day. We were supposed to be happy forever, Serenity's tone got sharper with every thought. You drew your sword because you were betrayed and now you're dead because I felt betrayed by you. I never want to feel this pain again. I never want to be betrayed again; therefore I will join you in death. With those last thoughts,Serenity took his bloodied sword on both of her hands and held it to her chest then said, "We will be together again, my love. I know we will and maybe then we can find our happiness." After another glance at her beloved, she closed her eyes, sunk the sword into her chest, breathed once more then never again.
Once Reni had felt the plunge of the sword into her chest, she felt herself drifting off into the darkness. My thoughts were so dark before I died. I never realized that I had felt such a strong sense of betrayal. Reni sifted back through all of what she had been feeling. It had begun as a happy day then ending up being one of tragedy and sadness. I felt so lost and hurt that even when Darien explained what had happened, I still couldn't completely trust him. Reni brought her knees up to her chest and thought about the last thought she had had as Princess Serenity. I was so afraid to live with the pain that I choose to die with all of those negative feelings. That must have giving birth to the darker side of me that emerged with the help of the Darkmoon's power. Reni got to her feet as she felt her revelation strike her. Because I fought against these feelings in the present, I fell to their power. I know now that I must accept these feelings are a part of me and that as long as I love with my heart and believe completely in my spirit there is nothing that I cannot overcome.
With this revelation, she felt a new power growing within her, growing stronger. She felt the missing pieces of her full power come to her. She felt the peace of accepting her self as she truly was and always will be, Serenity, Goddess of the Universal Peace. After that flash of new power, she felt warm, peaceful and calm like a blanket being warmed by the body. She was filled with love from all of her friends, boyfriend, and mother and began return back to consciousness.
The warriors then came to full alert when Serenity showed signs of waking from her sleep. Darien was the first one at her side followed closely by the rest of the warriors. When she finally reached the ground, she opened her eyes very slowly and smiled. Then Darien asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"Serenity, are you okay?" Reni looked in his direction and smiled wider.
"I've never been better. By the way, I told you to call me Reni don't you remember?" Everyone let out their breaths as the inner warriors smothered her with hugs, glad that their Reni was back to her normal self. Once they, finally let her have a breath, Reni looked around and noticed that not only were the inner warriors there, but the outer ones as well.
"Nia, Ellie, Rae-Rae, Aqua," Reni said as she looked at each of them. "It's been too long since I've seen all of you." She ran towards them with her arms wide open. "I've missed you all."
"We've missed you, too, Reni," said Saturn with tears in her eyes as she returned Reni's enthusiastic embrace. As Reni broke apart from them, she saw that Diamonds was breaking free from the trap.
"You warriors will pay for this!! Serenity is MINE!!" Diamonds released himself from the cage and fired a blast of energy at them that scattered all but Serenity back a hundred feet. Reni stood there looking like the picture of calm, grace, and elegance.
"I belong to no one person, Diamonds," Reni said calmly as she began to glow white. She felt her powers gathering within her, filling her with strength that begged to be released. She closed her eyes and found the words that would transform her.
"MOON...STARLIGHT...CRYSTAL...TRANSFORM!!" The transformation gave of a burst of light that left everyone blind for a few moments.
When they could finally open their eyes, Reni was in a modified version of her princess gown. It was a transparent white dress, with several layers, that when half way down her calves. It was held up with spaghetti straps that held the symbol of the moon at the end of them. It also held lace ribbon that was tied around her waist and ended in a bow with the ends trailing down the length of her dress. On her feet were crystal white heels. In her hand she held a scepter that held the jewel of her planet, the crystal moonstone, in the holding of the crescent moon. For several moments, nobody dared to move a muscle.
"What has happened to you?" Darien asked. Reni opened her eyes slowly and gave him a soft, brilliant smile.
"I have transformed into the final form I will ever take in this life: Angelic Warrior of the Moon." Everyone gasped, except Pluto. She smiled, knowingly, at Reni and bowed before her.
"My Queen," said Pluto as she looked up from her bowed position, "Have you found the answer to my question?"
"Yes" Reni said with a smile "I did." Everyone else stood looking at the two of them wondering what had happened between them. When everyone else stopped staring long enough to notice the position Pluto had taken, they all bowed before her as well. As soon they were all bowing, Reni returned her attention to Prince Diamonds, who had also been stunned by the blast, and walked towards him. The warriors, except Pluto, looked up in her direction and waited anxiously as she approached Prince Diamonds. Being worried for her safety, they started to rise but Pluto's commanding voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Do not move from your places," she began. "We are the Warriors of the Moon, protectors to Princess Serenity, and Guardians of this universe. Until told otherwise, do not move from your places or you'll have me to contend with." Any protests that anyone was going to voice died in their throats. They went silent, bowed back down, but instead of staring at the ground, they stared at their princess with concern in their eyes.
"Diamonds," Reni called to him softly and calmly.
"Serenity," he answered, looking pleased as she approached. "Have you decided to come back to me?"
"I'm sorry, Diamonds but I can't go back with you. I belong here with the people I care about." Reni placed her hand on his shoulder. "However, I can sense the goodness in you. Just like me, you had darkness in you that manipulated you and made you do things you normally wouldn't have done. I would love to have you as a friend, even though it didn't exactly work out the way you wanted." She smiled at him and moved her hand to his arm.
He looked up at her and said timidly, "I don't know if I can ever truly stop loving you Serenity. How could we be just friends?"
"Well, once I cleanse you of the darkness you will be rinsed free of all the darker emotions that make your love possessive. You will not lose your love for me but it will become a love that gives and supports. Once the process is complete you will become one of my trusted advisors and friend, besides you Pyro." Reni quickly glanced over to her and gave her a reassuring smile, and then turned back to Diamonds. "Do you accept?" Diamonds looked at her for several minutes and felt the truth in her words and knew that in this way he could be with her and love her and still keep her smiling that beautiful smile. He placed his hand on top of hers and smiled a true smile.
"Yes, I accept," he answered.
"Great, let's begin. Come with me." And walked back to the rest of the group, but before we had taken two steps towards the warriors, Diamonds stopped in his tracks with a deathly pale look to him.
"What is wrong?" Reni asked him.
"The fleet," he answered in a horror-stricken voice.
"What fleet? I don't remember you telling me about a fleet when I was on your side."
"You probably don't remember since your light probably erased those memories."
"Yes that is probably true. So tell us about this fleet," She asked in a strong, soft voice. He swallowed deeply.
"In case we weren't able to defeat the warriors on our own, we had prepared the Dark Moon fleet to attack if they saw a strong pulse of our energy." Reni stood there a stared at him with a totally stricken look of horror.
"That means that when you broke free of your bonds, they were signaled to begin an attack?" Diamonds nodded his head. "How long do we have?" Reni asked when she could find her voice again.
"We have 30 minutes at most until they attack."
"Then we have little time to waste." She said commandingly. She turned to the warriors with the look of a powerful queen ready to fight for her planet. "Warriors now is the time I give you all the powers necessary for us to defeat the enemy. Now, once I bestow upon you your powers I will be weakened for an hour, therefore a few of you will have to protect me until I am up to my full strength. Do you all understand?"
"Yes, your majesty," they replied bowing their heads.
"Good. Let's not waste any time." Reni walked over to the center of the group and placed her scepter just above the heads of the warriors. "Mercury, Warrior of the planet of knowledge and wisdom," Hydra glowed azure, "Mars, Warrior of the planet of war and external sight," Ariesa glowed crimson, "Jupiter, Warrior of the planet of nature and lightning," Terra glowed jade, "Venus, Warrior of the planet of love and beauty," Ophellia glowed orange.
"Uranus, Warrior of the planet of wind and thunder," Urania glowed navy blue, "Neptune, Warrior of the oceans," Aqua glowed aqua, "Saturn, Warrior of the planet of Death and Rebirth," Estrella glowed amethyst, "Pluto, Warrior of the planet of time and space," Chronia glowed black, "I bestow upon you the holy powers of the moon to bring you your new powers. Call out your planet's name followed by Starlight Crystal Transform to activate your new powers and your planet's guiding crystal." The eight warriors glow their respective colors for a few moments then returned to normal. Once completed, she turned to Diamonds and placed her scepter above his head.
"Diamonds, I cleanse your body of its dark spirits and upon your head I bestow the Advisor powers of the moon. To activate your powers, call upon the advisor's staff and hold it up to the moon." She went to Darien and held out her hand for him to take.
"Darien," Reni smiled down at him, "Being a past noble of this planet and separate from the Alliance, you will have to look inside yourself and find the words that will give you what you'll need." She gave his hand a quick squeeze and then returned to the center of the group.
"Now that you have been given your powers," Reni said feeling a bit queasy and dizzy, "you can call upon them when it is time for our battle." Reni fell towards the ground and Darien quickly caught her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yes, I'll be fine," She assured him, eyes halfway closed. "But I do remind you that I will be weakened for at least an hour and we have only fifteen minutes left until the fleet will arrive. We must be fully rested for this." Reni's eyes closed and she fell asleep feeling the strain of using so much of her powers at one time. They then left, with Reni in Darien's arms, and everyone else following them. Pluto stopped for a few moments and looked up to the sky.
"I pray that, since I cannot see the outcome of this battle, that all will come out well; for all of us." Meanwhile in space, the commander of the fleets gave out an order.
"Prepare for the attack of Earth in ten minutes, starting with the Warriors of the Moon!"
An attack?! Reni's out of commission. Will the warriors be able to hold out? One more chapter left. Until then, R&R. :)