I have a HUGE love of Jen Wand?s "Darien?s View", and therefore, I guess it isn?t a surprise that I?ve decided to write this one. In this, I will attempt retell most of the Sailor Moon original series, seen from Serena?s perspective, but with a few twists, and turns?(P.S. everything between Serena and Darien will be a lot more romantic, because I think the series didn?t do justice to their relationship). In fact, this will be a more romantic retelling of the story, and in a way, Serena is still more intellectual than the series puts her to be. (I can?t get over the fact that the series would make her such a crybaby ditz?I think she?s WAY smarter than the series puts her to be.) Thank you for writing to me, I?ve received very GREAT ideas, and great support from the e-mail pool! This was inspired by DA. Thank you! I know this isn?t the whole thing?and I don?t know if I will EVER be able to do it all, DA, but I?m gonna get the original and R series done for sure. Well, I?m off to camp this week?I?m on Youth Staff. Then comes the horrible week of visiting colleges?urf. Anyway, write me, I?d love to hear from you, though I you may not hear from me for about two weeks! Love, Luck, Luna, Crystal Heart Disclaimers: I don?t know the characters, but this is my interpretation, my narration of what happens. I am a fifteen year old girl. I have blond hair, blue eyes, and I?m five nine. My hair?s very long, and it?s one of my prides. I wear it in two buns, with streaming ponytails. I have a fetish for junk food, and I love my friends. I sing off-key to music, and I can?t play video games very well. Even though I can hardly walk without falling, I can skate beautifully. I am a klutz, my friends claim, but that?s all right, because they love me anyway. My name is Serena. My friends call me Ree. Everyone knows that I was a girl, who stumbled into the role of being a superheroine, and that somehow I miraculously managed to lead my friends to beat the negaverse. But I?ll tell you another story, something that you DON?T know. Come a little closer. Sh?listen closely, and listen well, for I am going to tell you a story that happened not on the outside, but on the inside. I am going to tell you a story of how a girl grew up to be a woman. The Reflection of Myself By Crystal Heart Episode 1 - A New Me The young man is handsome, with dark hair and mysterious blue eyes, hidden by his mask. He has a strong body, and I feel safe in his embrace, complete. "Serenity?" he whispers. There is a warmth in his gaze, and I blush, almost wanting to hide. He smiles even more deeply at my embarrassment, showing off those beautiful small dimples. I melt into his arms, as he bends his head to mine... "Everyone can see the road that they walk on is paved it gold. It?s always summer, they?ll never get cold. They?ll never get hungry, they?ll never get old and gray?" Fastball? What are they doing in the middle of all this? The man starts to back away from me, his grasp leaving my body, leaving a cold aloneness. "Don?t go?" I cry, trying to grab him. "Don?t go, Darien?" He disappears into the darkness. I find myself in the middle of this darkness. Where are you? "Where are you?" I sit up in the bed, looking around, dazedly. "Where am I?" I then sigh. "The children woke up, and they couldn?t find them They left before the sun came up that day?" DAMN! Yet another dream, a beautiful dream, ruined by morning. The moonlight magic and madness is over now. Now I am just plain Serena, not some dreamy heroine, with that handsome masked man. Mmm?the man of my dreams, literally. He?s been visiting my dreams for over two years now, and every time I see him, and wake up, I feel like some love-sick preteen in love with the idea of being in love. But I can?t help it?he?s so real to me? No wonder I get caught daydreaming and not paying attention. Dreams are beautiful, and they are very healthy for the soul, but they are a deathtrap to any teenage girl struggling with her grades. I guess I could be what you would call a Pathological Dreamer. Any time, any place, he comes to me?and just as quickly leaves me, to all kinds of trouble. But this time, at least I have something. I have his name. "Darien," I sigh. "What a perfectly wonderful name! *I?ll find you, Darien,* I vow, while looking at the clock. Woe punches my empty stomach hard as I realize that I have yet again overslept, overdreamt. I am ready to cry. Yet again, not only is my beautiful dream shattered, but I am also running late, and this time, I have that feeling that Miss H is not going to be nice and lenient. I rush out of bed, to grab a uniform blouse, from my collection in one drawer, and a blue skirt, from my collection of those in another drawer. Reaching into the sock drawer, I snatch out a pair, and reaching into the underwear drawer, I drag one out. I rush into the bathroom. Record times have always been set when one has motivation. Getting to school on time is more than enough motivation. I have managed to wash my hair and face and shower in only seven minutes. I grab the towel, rushing out of the shower stall. I dry myself quickly, whipping my hair up into two buns, leaving two streamers falling from them. It seems lately I never have the time to dry those streamers. I don?t care anymore, though. I quickly rush into the skirt and socks. I rush out of the bathroom, and look at the clock. Not bad. I have twenty minutes to get to class. Such timing is not ideal, but I?ve done worse. Happier, and realizing that the day is turning out better than I had thought, I grab my books, and go down the stairs, to grab my breakfast, which I will eat on the way to school. As I rush out the door, I realize that I have forgotten my lunch. Embarrassed, I walk back to the door, where my mother stands. "Ree, you have to get up earlier." "I try mother, but?" I can?t finish the sentence. I don?t think my mother would understand my odd dreams, that keep me riveted to sleep, clinging to it. "But nothing?" I finished. "I?ve gotta go." My best friend Molly says I eat too much. Perhaps that is true, but it is only because I burn off everything in my track-record-setting time I take running to school. Most of the time, I never even break a sweat. As I pass the corner of Trenton and Fremont, I peek to my watch. I am making excellent timing. It appears I may not get that tardy and detention after all. That is when I hear the sound. Preteen boys, beating up on somebody. Very pissed, I forget about getting to school on time, and prepare to defend this kid?s honor. "Bug off, you creeps!" I yell. I see that they are not gathered around a kid, but a poor little cat. The boys look at me, and laugh. "And who?s going to stop us?" "I am!" I say, taking a garbage can lid, and throwing it at one of the boys, Frisbee style. It hits his wrist, on my mark, and he drops the cat in his hands. The boys look at me again, with different consideration, and then run. I thank my natural fetish for Frisbee, and check the cat. "Oh, Kitty, are you all right?" It must be homeless, because it looks so thin. And the eyes are so odd a color, a ruby red, with a boiling amber. It almost scares me into dropping it. However, I note that the cat is pawing at the ridiculous band- aid on its head. I take it off for the kitty, and realize that the scar is odd enough. It?s a golden moon. Confused, I look around, trying to find an owner. Discovering no one, I look down at the kitty, and then at my watch. "Oh my gosh I?m LATE!!!!!" I drop the kitty, running down Fremont. I sigh as I walk into class, trying to hide behind the other students. It?s already too late though. I?m singled out from the moment I step in the door. Miss Haruna, a woman in her late twenties has a furious gleam in her eye, and I can feel my blood scorching in my vessels. I look to my desk, the only one that is empty, and walk to it, my eyes focused on my shoes, my head down. "Serena Tsukino?" I hear her voice say, sternly. I weakly turn to her. What excuse can I offer her? She never believes me anymore. I suppose because earlier she was so nice with me. I can already tell that she?s not having a very good day either. "Come out to the hall with me, please," she points to the door. I look at the door. It hardly looks like the door I just stepped in just a few minutes ago. It looks like the gate to banishment. I am furious for being punished for saving a cat, but hold my tongue, because I know that Miss H doesn?t want to be contradicted today. I think it has something to do with yesterday?s date. She had come in yesterday all happy, but now, she is extremely stressed. I stand outside the door as Miss H finally gets to me, and steps out to the hall. "Ree?" she says, exasperated. "I try?" I persist. "I really do?" Miss H looks at me. "If you did, then you would have done better on your test?" she says, flashing it in front of my eyes. "A 30!?!?!?" I burst into tears. There was no way I?d be able to please my parents THIS way, but algebra simply does not make sense, in any logic. Miss H turns away. "I?m not giving you detention this time, because I think you have more than enough to be stressed about now." Absently, I thank her, and she leaves me alone to my tears, as she knows to do. I lean against the wall, and slide down to sit at the floor. My tears catch in my blue skirt, making dark flowers bloom at impact of the fibers. I look down the hall one way, then the other, and realize that I am alone. I am always alone. Even HE leaves me then, I realize, as my dreams have now single- handedly been torn away from me?I can?t even see his face anymore, no matter how hard I try. The tears in my eyes, in my mind, and in my heart blind me to anything, as all I can do now is cry. I am so alone. I walk dejectedly towards the Crown Arcade after school to see my friend Andrew. He has been my crush for the past three years. He?s tall, at around 6?2". He?s got golden-brown hair, the shade of really warm honey. His eyes are the soft blue of a sea at peace. Peace. That?s the feeling I get with him. I guess that?s the reason why I like him. He?s always been seeing through for me, always looking towards the future. He?s almost always calm. He always understands what I need, kinda like how Miss H knows when I need to cry by myself a little. Of course, though I DO like Andrew, and as much as I think he?s very handsome, I stay away from him. He?s a college student, and I know his type. ALL the girls come to the arcade just to see him?he?s everybody?s guy?though recently, I have heard rumors of his relationship with some girl named Rita?she works on bugs?ew. I stop in front of the window. The new Sailor V is out today. Somehow, I do not feel an enthusiasm for it. Sailor V, a paragon. She?s tall, blond, beautiful, famous, and very smart. She?s a heroine, and she saves people. She doesn?t have problems with people. She doesn?t have problems with tests. She?s perfect. She even has video games. I feel bitterness in my mouth. It tastes like copper?dirty copper. But the feeling makes me want to laugh, if only bitterly?I?m jealous of a video game. But not just any video game. Sailor V is real. But no one has ever MET her. "Hey Ree!" I turn around to see my friend Molly, with a concerned frown on her brow, walking towards me, with Melvin, the class nerd. I smile like a tragic heroine, a skill I have almost perfectly now. "Sorry about the test?" Melvin started. "It was HARD! I got a 95! This is going to kill my average!" he says, sighing with resignation. I feel inclined to slap him. Even more depressed, I start walking to the Arcade, when Molly decides to come along with me. Molly?s my best friend, and only a few months younger than I. She?s shorter than me, at 5?6", compared to my 5?9". She?s got these soulful turquoise eyes, that glitter in sunlight like polished jewels. Her hair is this pretty fire, that gleams like copper in the sunlight. Sometimes, I like to believe she?s a princess. Molly?s very sweet, and understanding. For instance, she now rushes me from Melvin, and we walk into the Arcade. "Hey Ree!" Andrew says. As he looks at my tragic smile, his own good-natured smile falls, and he looks at me, concerned. "What?s wrong?" "I?I got a?" I can?t finish my sentence, and hold up my test, pathetically. His eyes bug out, and I turn away. "I think I?ll to home and hide under my covers until math ceases to exist," I mutter. Molly sighs, as I find that I do not have the energy to play the new Sailor V, to everyone?s surprise. I turn to the door, walking out. I know I?m going to be grounded for years now. As we start walking, Molly starts a conversation. "So, where are you going?" "Breaking the news to my mother?" I grit my teeth. She knows that I would rather eat rat poison than go home and suffer through another lecture of my pathological daydreaming. It upsets me, and I sincerely wish HE?d stay out of my dreams, but this guy comes out of no where, at any time of day, and I immediately lose thought, and trip, fail to do something right, or screw up, like I did on the test. Molly looks at her watch. "You can go home later. My mom is holding a sale at her store! Come on, I know you LOVE diamonds?" She knows everything about me. I smile. "Well, all right," I smile. Molly?s mom owns this really great and famous jewelry store on Main Street. Everyone shops there. I love jewelry. I love diamonds the most. They are so pure and glittering white?I always dream that a diamond is a snowflake, trapped in moonbeams. The fire inside, the small rainbows that catch my eyes show the soul of the snowflake, fighting to get out. As I pore over the hundredth diamond ring, I realize that it?s time that I go. It?s already five, and dinner is six at my house. I pull on Molly?s sleeve. "I?ve got to book it. Wish me luck?" Molly hugs me, and lets me go. I start to walk out of the store, and turn around to look around myself. There?s something about this place?as beautiful as all the jewelry is?there?s still something?it?s a moment of nervousness, when I just laugh it off, and pass it off as leftover anxiety from my fear of showing my mother my test. I take the test from my bag, and look at it. The test paper is now full of wrinkles, and crisp?having finally dried from my tears. I am so furious. Why does He do this to me? Why can?t He just let me do my job as a student, as a daughter, and let me live my life, without wondering where He is? Frustrated, I take the test paper into my fist, crumpling it, feeling better. I throw it into the air behind my back, wanting to throw it away from me, throw HIM away from me. "Let me be rid of Him!!!!" I muttered. "Ow! Watch it, Meatball Head." I want to hit myself hard now. I deserve it. I just deliberately did an act in anger without caring. Guiltily, I turn around. My heart is pounding?was it His voice? Do I hear him? "Or should I call you Meatball Brain?" he says. His face is hidden behind my uncrumpled test paper, and I realize this stranger has seen my score. Frustrated at him, Miss H, and the world, I snatch it from him. What a weirdo. Wearing a tuxedo on such a nice fall day. His eyes are hidden in sunglasses, but his very wonderfully styled hair is black as night, and of that texture that makes any girl want to touch it. He?s around 6?5", a few inches taller than Andrew. I can tell by the handsome, pronounced structure of his face that he is still pretty young, maybe around Andrew?s age?a college guy. I am immediately disgusted. A college guy. A flirt. But looking at this guy, I have the distinct feeling that he is a contrast to normalcy. "What I get is my business?" I narrow my eyes at him.. I can tell I don?t like this guy very much. Calling me Meatball Head, Meatball Brain? "Now excuse me?" I say, walking away. Strange enough, HE enters my mind again?my dream. I stop. I shake my head, and start walking away again. However, after a few paces, I turn back to look at him. In the light, I could swear that figure looked familiar? He stands there, motionless, facing me, I suppose looking at me through those sunglasses. I walk into the house dejectedly, and to my disappointment, my mother approaches me upon arrival. "Hello honey!" she says, smilingly. Oh I know I?m going to get it once she sees it? "I saw Melvin walking home today talking about the test?" "Yes, it was a REALLY hard one?" I said, trying to soften the blow. I know it?s futile, though. "Oh, he said he got a 95!" my mother said, brow twisting into that worried line. "So what did you get?" I look away, and hand her the wad of paper, staying in my spot, for her reaction, focusing on the window. Fear is ice in my blood. But temperature?s rising, so quickly? "A 30?!?!?!? Serena!" mother yells. I hate it when mother yells. I know I?m such a disappointment to her. I?ll never be the perfect daughter, because I?m me. She always tells me of other people?s perfect children, and I always disappoint her. I think she thinks I?m her failure, her worst accomplishment. A dreamer, who can?t do anything right. Never. She turns away from me. "I?ll have no such daughter in my house. Don?t come back until you?re prepared to stop your silly daydreaming, and start working!" Sammy is standing outside the door. His face is red with embarrassment. His friend Mark is standing next to him. "Mark you go on inside. I?ll come in and we?ll start our homework after we eat a snack?" he gestures his friend to the door. Mark nods his head, and goes into the house. "I heard what she said?" Sammy begins. "Serena, when are you going to ever grow up?" he asks rhetorically. "You know, sometimes I?m ashamed to admit I?m your brother?" It hurts. The pain. Caused by everyone in the world. The world can be so cruel. Can?t anyone understand? I run. I walk through the city sometimes, aimlessly. Sometimes, it provides me with direction. And it appears that direction is something that I lack greatly right now. But can I help who I am? My name is Serena Usagi Tsukino. Can I change who I am? It is a windy day. The wind tosses my hair in many directions, and tumbles most of it down. Finally, I concede to nature, and take out my buns, and let the wind toss my golden hair around. The feeling is liberating, though my long hair falls into my face. I wander to the park, to sit down at my spot. It faces the west, and I come here often to watch the sun go down, over the waves of the sea. Tears come to my eyes, as I realize that I?ll never be the perfect daughter, sister, or person. I am too human for that. I am too Serena. As the bench comes to my view, I am annoyed to find a romantic couple just getting off it. "Come on, honey, you can get a better view on the beach?" the song-like words strum the silence sweetly. So sweetly. I fight the pain that tramples across my heart. Yet another distant thing?the impossible dream. The hand holds, the secret glances, the blushes, the sunsets. Everyone has them but me. I know I am but fifteen, but I haven?t even had a boyfriend. I?ve never had that feeling in my heart, except when I envision HIM. Sometimes I think he?s a part of my imagination?that the need to find someone was so great, that I invented him, so that I might not feel so lonely. Alone. And yet, he seems so real. As I continue to approach the bench, I see that another person is walking from the other direction. As we stop in front of the bench, I see the person is a young man, the same young man I have seen earlier in front of the jewelry store. Now, however, he is not in his tuxedo, but rather, a black turtleneck, and some stone-gray khakis. His hair is luxuriously in disarray, from the wind. All of a sudden, I have the urge to just turn around and leave. The memory of standing in front of him, having him smirk at me?and knowing he was an annoying college student, probably in that ridiculous "post-adolescent idealistic" phase. At the same time, though, an image flashes through my mind. Sitting on the bench, watching the sun set over the Sea of Japan, in His arms, that are linked around me, playing with my own small hands? There?s a magnetism to this bench. I have to stay, just to find out?if I left, I?d always wonder. I plop down unceremoniously on my side, as he sits on his side, ignoring my presence. Relief and disappointment come to mind. It seems silence is the order of the moment. Somehow, as social as I am, I don?t mind this silence. As strange as it feels, it is comfortable, and warm, and filling. I feel a part of me awaken, and glow, and tremble. What is it about this moment? I have sat here most sunsets of my adolescent life. I have sat here, wandering, and trying to find direction? Is it the young man? I look at him, trying to find answers. He?s looking at me, only with more questions. Who is he? What is happening? Do I know him? Should I know him? And why do I still remain here, when I feel inside my heart that he will hurt me? Too tired to answer them, I simply move over on the bench by him, as he moves toward me. There is a peace that covers my questions, and stifles my doubts. The moment is perfect. As we sit, at the middle of the bench, next to each other, not touching, the feeling inside me bursts, and I feel my heart in my cheeks, my mind, my mouth. Everything is pounding in my head. There?s something about this moment? Sitting here, life comes into a focus, clearer than any time before. It is so clear, the light hits me like the rush of wind. I don?t know who this young man is. I don?t know what my future is. I don?t know who I am. But I am going to find out, soon. Coming into the house long past sunset, after all twilight had disappeared, I look around. My mother is not standing around, and I can hear the evening news in the next room, where I imagine my family was sitting. Dinner has long been finished by my family, I realize, as I hear no noise from the kitchen. It is all right, though. I am not hungry. Not now. After the sun had set, and after my companion and I had watched the very last rays of twilight disappear, we simply stood up, and without a glance, walked away from each other. That experience has left me with a contentment, and a longing. For him again. And yet? I have the feeling that this man is alone. He has lived his life that way. In respect for him, I turn away, and leave him be. I have the feeling that we will meet again. A part of me complains, but a part of me anticipates. Such a feeling can hardly be expected now, though. What of my dreams? What of Darien? The man of my dreams, always appearing, with that sad presence, begging for me?to do what? I have no idea. He must be a figment of my imagination. He must be. As I wander upstairs, and throw myself on the bed, I think about him. Where is this dream man now? Where is my Darien? Does he leave me, now that I?ve decided to fight him? Now that I?ve decided that such dreams, cannot fill me as the sunset does, or the contentment of doing well for my mother and myself? Now that I?ve decided that the warmth of a young man, with red blood, and true feelings, is more important to me, than the transitory bliss that vanishes into the sun every morning? Sitting up on bed, I look at the window, where I hear something slamming against it. I think it is the wind. Going to the window, I pull back a curtain, and look up into the sky, at the moon. It is full tonight, and bright, as pure as snowflakes, and just as delicate. It blazes with a white fire, a holy kind of experience. The light is far greater a magnitude than anything Tokyo can offer. Again, I hear the slam against my window, and my eyes fall upon two glowing ambers that stare at me. Scared, I jump back, as the window is thrown up with a large uplift of wind, and a shadow jumps into my shadowed room. I rush to the desk lamp, and turn it on. My gaze tries to find out if the shadow has vanished, melting away at light?but I find that the shadow is not huddled up at the center of my bed. It is the cat that I had saved earlier. "There you are again, my odd Kitty?" "The name?s Luna." Terrified, I jump. Has this whole day been a dream? From the moment I woke up, the experience has scrolled by my eyes so quickly; the test grade, the jewelry store, the young man, the argument, the sunset?and now this. A talking cat. "I must be dreaming?" I say to myself, falling back on my bed. The cat jumps to my stomach and looks into my eyes. "Come on. You world needs you!" "No, I have no idea what this is?but it?s not funny anymore. How do I get out of this nightmare?" "It?s not a nightmare, or any part of your imagination," the cat says. Still confused, and tired, I try to clear my mind. "So what is this?" "This is your life?" the cat speaks. "Then why is a strange cat talking to me?" The cat frowns at me. "I am not strange. And I am not just any cat. I am your advisor." "I don?t need any counseling, and especially not from some CAT!" I stress the word. "I don?t think I like you either, from what I?ve seen between your teacher and you, your mother, and your brother. But I can?t help it; we?re stuck," she sighed, and flipped up in the air. I move to catch her, thinking she?s trying to kill herself. Instead, she lands perfectly, and in my hand is this off beautiful little brooch. "Did you steal this?" I ask her. I am upset. Somehow, knowing the cat does not like me makes me feel hurt, and angry. I am insulted. "No, of course NOT!" she impertinently holds her head up high. "Now, take that brooch, and hold your hand to the air, and said "Moon Prism Power." I lamely hold my hand up, embarrassed. "This is stupid, Luna. What?s going to happen? I?m going to go to the moon? This isn?t possible. Even I know there?s no such thing as magic, as cool as it is." "You don?t believe there?s such thing as a talking cat, do you?" Point taken. I raise my hand again, and say the words clearly, but not enthusiastically, "Moon Prism Power?" A flash of light. It?s so hard to describe. I feel light enveloping me, and everything flashing and wrapping around me. It kind of tickles. Ouch. A tight uniform. I feel ribbons of moonlight coming around me, and in the end of all the fireworks, I find myself standing in front of my talking cat in a sailor outfit. Looking in the mirror, I smile. "I look like Sailor V!" "And you know what Sailor V does, right?" Luna asks me. "Yeah, she fights crime. Everyone knows that." "You do too." "ME? Uh-uh, no way. As much as I daydream about this kind of stuff all the time, I think I?ll opt out on this one." "YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!" It?s humorous, the situation I am in now. I?m wearing a silly costume, standing in front of a talking cat. Suddenly, something goes off in my head, and I feel this headache. I fall back on the bed. "What?s going on?" "The negaverse?" Luna mutters. "The who?" "Come on, your signal?s telling me something wrong is going on. You?re going to go on your first battle." "Battle? No!" I refuse. "You?ve got to help?" I hear it now?the voice?it?s Molly, but her tones are drenched in sweat, adrenaline, and terror. She?s terrified, and I feel the fear quaking in my own system. "HELP ME!!!" I sit up in my bed. "Molly?" I look to the cat, and she looks at me, with that understanding thing she does. "Come on," I tell the cat, going out the window. My parents are NOT going to see me in this get- up. I?m not even sure what? s really going on! Standing in front of the jewelry store, I don?t know what to think. It?s dark, and there?s a feeling of dark pain that?s pouring out of the store. My heart is pounding, and fear is gushing throughout my system. "Luna," I tell the cat, "I don?t have a good feeling about this." "Come on, don?t be a scardy cat?" she says. I look down to her, scolding. "You?re one to talk, you ARE a cat?" "Help me!" I hear her cry out. "Oh?" fear or not, Molly is my best friend, I just have to go in. bracing myself, feeling something pump into my veins, I force myself in to find the scariest creature I have beheld. She is Molly?s mother?but she isn?t. It is worse than a monster. Her eyes are mesmerizingly evil, with an angry red burning deep inside. There is a twist in my stomach, as I feel the insane urge to purge right now. She is not even looking at me, but holding Molly in her grasp, and Molly?s frightened pixie eyes are fading, losing soul, and losing life. Molly is screaming, but her voice is starting to die away, in the monster?s claws, and I am helpless to know what to do. There is nothing I can think of. I don?t know how to fight this, because I?ve never fought. Fright is akin to ignorance now, and I feel myself backing away, as I see my friend, energy-drained, thrown against the wall. I hear a crack. I am angered, she is my friend. "You?re going to pay for what you did, you jerk!" The monster narrowed her eyes at me. "And what have we here. A fashion-challenged little girl!" she gestures around her, to some invisible minions, when I realize that the bodies of fallen women, are emerging, their faces pale, their eyes black, soulless holes. Fear grips me, as I look around for comfort. But I see none. Inspired by my Sailor V comics, I jump, and avoid one, and land high on a glass counter, above a bunch of glittery jewels underneath. I look at the monster, and gather my courage. "My name is?" Sailor Moon. It fills my blood. I feel it. The bright feeling of being full of something. I don?t know what. "Sailor Moon. I will right wrongs and triumph over evil, and that means you, you energy-sucking locust!" I don?t even know what a locust is. It sounds insulting, though. And it pisses her off. "Attack!" she cries to her minions. Frightened, outnumbered, I feel my courage fade. I see the dark women zombies gather about me in a circle, and the circle starts to shrink. Sweat is mingling in tears now. I have no idea what to do. Luna simply sits, and yells to me to do something. Do what? I don?t know what a heroine does. In a few desperate moves, I kick at the women, but I don?t wish to injure them?some of them I recognize, some of them are my mother?s friends. What do you so when your mother?s friends, her closest friends, are attacking you? And your best friend?s mother is the leader of the dark clan? Ready to panic, I look to see a glittering diamond plate. Remembering my earlier tactic that I had used to save Luna the first time, I jumped back onto the counter, and flipped away from the crowd of women to a far corner. (Thank god I paid attention in those gymnastic lessons my mother made me take as a child!) I throw my discus in a wide circle, knocking some of them down, but not hurting them seriously. The discus returns to me just as I look to Luna, and see her eyes light up, in admiration and remembrance. But I do not find out what she remembers, and neither do I get to glory in the feeling of being admired, for at that moment, I see only a knife, coming straight at me. It slides across the top of my hand, disarming me. The diamond plate is now glittering on the cold marble floor. I almost want to scream when I see the white glove, cut across the top, with red, starting to bleed into frayed edges. I look up to freeze once more. There is another blade, but this one?s aimed towards my heart. It?s pumping me with adrenaline, but I cannot move. This is the end. I close my eyes? I feel warmth of life, and a huge rush of air, as I hear nothing, feel no contact. I open my eyes to see, before me, on the floor, an unusual sight?a blade, the blade that was to take my life. It is pinned down to the floor, by a rose?a red, full-blooming rose. There is a magical strength to it. I feel it pounding life. I look up, and see him in the shadows of the room, as he steps forward. He?s got to be the most handsome man I?ve ever seen, and he?s got to be the closest I?ve ever seen to the man who visits me in my dreams, my Darien. He wears a tuxedo, and a cape, with red lining. His top hat shadows his face, the white domino covers his eyes. I do not know who he is. But I feel swept off my feet. Is he my Darien? "Sailor Moon, don?t worry, just fight," he says. I look at my cat, to her crescent at her forehead?a crescent at her forehead?a tiara at mine. Surely?of course! I reach up, to take it off, and I throw it at the monster, which it hits. I see a reaction, a flash of moonlight come over her, and my tiara comes back to me. The monster stands, in the body of Molly?s mother. She frightens me, but I do not want to kill Molly?s mother. I ignore the stinging sensation that burns in my injured hand. My blow has provoked the monster, and it shows its true form?a massless, matterless, shapeless being?a dark spirit with flaming eyes. I feel compelled to back away, but hear Luna scream to me. "This time, say Moon Tiara magic!" Gritting my teeth, I take my tiara again, and aim my subject. I recite the words "Moon Tiara Magic," as I feel the tiara glow, and see it infused with magic and moonlight. The power is strong, and I feel it within me. I throw it at my target. The seconds are slow, as I see the tiara disk slice slowly through the air, and meet with the dark spirit. I hear a moan, and a scream, and I see a burst of life, as I see people starting to breath softly and slowly once more. The monster is gone. "Who are you?" I see the masked man, still in the corner. The masked man looks at me, "I will remember you?" I hear Molly?s moan, and look to her. When I turn back to him, he is gone. I see only one clue of his presence?the rose he had thrown to save my life. Carefully, I pick it up, and caress the satiny petals. The cut on my hand vanishes when I touch the petals. Odd. There is a warmth and a tingling at the spot where my injury once was. I then walk to Molly, to make sure she is all right. I feel her forehead. The temperature is returning from subzero to normal, and I sigh with relief. However, as I hear Molly sigh tiredly, and see her eyes start to open, I get up, and decide to go. Luna is calling me. It?s strange when you are a super heroine. This night, I look to my moon, the moon that gives me my powers. It seems brighter tonight, perhaps stronger. The rose I have from my mysterious savior is now in water, sitting on my desk. Later, when it dries, I will keep it, like a relic. But looking at it now, in the moonlight, I feel a strange feeling of content. Sighing, I turn away from it to look at the window again. I think the moon just winked at me. I turn around again, back to the cat who lays at my bed. "You did an excellent job tonight, Serena," she tells me. Still confused about the events of the day, I sit on the bed beside her, and start to pet her. "I don?t know what?s going on, Luna, but I think I?m needed. I?ve never felt this way before. Is this how Sailor V feels?" "I suppose so?" the cat sighs. As she starts to drift to sleep, I stand up, and walk to my desk, finally flicking on a light. Sitting down at the desk, at ten to eleven, I start on my homework?the scent of the rose drifting to my senses, clouding them with romance, yet filling me with life, and determination. The rose IS magical. I can feel it. He?s holding me now, telling me how proud he is. "Serenity?" he teases me, playing with a lock of my golden hair. But I feel something punch at my stomach. It?s not him. I open my eyes, and find myself staring into amber fire. Screaming, I sit back in my bed. My mother comes rushing into the room. "Are you all right?" I find that the scary ghost who woke me up is just Luna, and the amber fire was in her eyes. "Yes, I?m fine, just a little tired." "I noticed that when I got upstairs last night at around midnight, the light was still on?" "Yeah?" I say, putting my hand to my head. Don?t remind me. "I was studying for a test we have today, and finishing my homework?" Or at least trying. But, I look to my rose, it is a step in the right direction. "Well, since you have to wake up in twenty minutes anyway, just take a shower. Maybe you can sit down to breakfast today." It feels strange to be walking to school, rather than running. There?s a laziness in it that suits me. The morning air is invigorating, and I feel the energy of morning slip into my lungs, and system. "Oh Ree!" I hear. I turn, and take my friend Molly into my arms, smiling. She backs away from my embrace. "You okay, Serena?" "Perfect?" I feel the joy in my blood. Life is perfect. Molly?s still alive. I have studied. I have had a nice conversation with my mother, over breakfast. I have eaten breakfast at the table. My brother is still sleeping, and probably is disappointed in me, but who cares? I am WALKING to school, with my best friend, on a beautiful morning. Life is perfect. "You won?t believe the dream I had last night, Serena?" Molly begins. "It was terrifying at first, when my mother?s eyes started burning?and then this monster?oh Serena, I was so scared, but then I could have sworn an angel saved me?I think she called herself Sailor Moon." Life is perfect?but where is a pillow and blanket? I stayed up WAY too late last night studying? To be continued? What do you think? It?s crisinti@hotmail.com, if you want to send comments, flames?though I do like comments more than I like flames?but then, everybody does?