Title: Dark Side of the Moon.
Chapter: Prolouge.
Author: DragonStar
Email: dragonstar@funky.wow.aust.com
Rating: pg13. No violence or language, just very intense in places.

-----------

Well, it's finally here. The prolouge chapter to Dark Side of
the Moon. Thanks tothose who commented on the teaser I sent out
a while ago. I know there wasn't actually much to comment on,
but the encouragment was good.

It was mostly written in the last couple of days. I couldn't before
with Uni and exams, but now they're over I'm getting started with
some serious writing (for those who are still interested by the end
of this ;)

So without further ado... the Dark Side of the Moon Prolouge.
New Moon Rising.

<fineprint>
All characters are Naoko Takeuchi's. Blah blah blah. You know the
drill.
</fineprint>

"Dark Side of the Moon."

A Sailor Moon Fanfic.
-by Ben Gibbons.

Prolouge.
"New Moon Rising"

It's a beautful day. The sun is shining and a cool breeze is
blowing. Usagi and Naru are walking through Ichinohasi park talking
and eating ice cream. Usagi, true to form, is licking away at a mile
a minute. "Mmm, ice cream... I love... ice cream..."
"Really, Usagi," giggles Naru. "Slow down. It's embarrasing."
A sly grin appeared on Naru's face. "If you keep eating like that,
you'll end up fat just like Sailor Moon."
This has it's desired efect as Usagi splurted out a mouthful
of ice cream and started coughing and rubing tears out of her eyes.
"Wh... What did you say?!"
Naru held back the urge to burst out laughing, hiding her grin
by skipping on a few steps ahead of Usagi. "Oh," she said in a
carefree voice. "Everyone's talking about it."
"They... are?" asked Usagi in a worried tone, running after
her friend.
*Got you!* "Don't you know?" she asked in just the right tone
to inflame Usagi's curiosity.
"No! Tell me tell me tellme tellmetellme!!"
Naru motioned her closer "Well, I really shouldn't tell you
this, but..."
"But what?" Usagi whispered eagerly.
"Well..." Naru leaned even closer. "Your ice cream is dripping
all down your hand."
"HUH?!" Usagi fell flat on her face. She was up immediatley
and started licking her melted ice crem from her hand and wrist. "Oh
no! My ice cream!" Then, without a break, worked her way up the side
of the cone and proceeded to wolf down the rest of her ice cream.
Then all of a sudden she started yelling, "OWW, OW OW OWIE
OWIEOWIEOWIE!!" and jumping in around in little circles.
"Usagi! Are you all right?" Naru asked worriedly. After a few
seconds, Usagi calmed down. "Usagi. What happened?"
"Oh, it's nothing. My teeth just got cold from the ice cream,
that's all. Come on, Naru." she said, running ahead. "We're going to
be late for dinner at my house."
Naru sighed before running after her best friend. "At least
being late all the time keeps her from getting fat from all the food
she eats." she remarked to no one in particular.

**************

"So tell me..." asked Usagi. Usagi and Naru were walking back
to Naru's house after dinner at Usagi's. It's nearly dark and they're
walking just a little faster so Usagi wouldn't have to walk back to
her house in the dark. "Are you and Umino an item now?"
Naru's face turned an interesting shade of crimson and she
brought her hands to her face to hide it from Usagi. "Usagiiiii...
It's not like that at all."
"Sure it is." replied Usagi in sly tones, nuging her friend
with her elbow. "And I'm sure you don't like it when he calls you the
most beautiful girl in the universe." She grinned as Naru's blush
deepend. "And *I* know that you sometimes make special lunches, just
for him."
Naru stopped and stared wide-eyed at Usagi. "You... You know
about that?" she stammered.
"Ee-yep."
"Oh. Well, I guess you could say we are. Sort of... I mean, he
*is* really nice when he's not telling everyone how smart he is. And
when I can get him to talk about something besides the internet, he's
really fun to be with. And when he takes his glasses off, he has the
cutest puppy-brown eyes. And his lips are so soft and warm..." She
trails off as her blush deepens even further and she get a far away
look in her eyes.
"You mean you've *kissed* him?! Umino? Eeewwww!"
"Usagi!" Naru said, slightly annoyed. "Be nice. You just...
don't know him the way I do." she huffed and walked off ahead.
*'Don't know him the way I do'?* Usagi shivered as an image
popped into her mind. "Now there's a picture I didn't want to see."
she mumbled to herself before jogging to catch up with Naru. "You
really like Umino that much?" she asked seriously.
Naru looked sideways at Usagi to see if she was still teasing.
Seeing that she wasn't, she smiled slightly. "Yeah. I do."
"That's good," said Usagi softly. "It's good that you have
someone like that. Everyone should have someone they care for."
Usagi thinks of Mamoru and herself. The two friends continue on in a
comfortable silence.

***********

She was standing in a courtyard. Radiating around her were
gracefull geometric garden beds, filled with bright, fragrant plants
and flowers. She looked around her. She was sure she had never been
here before, yet it all seemed so familiar to her. Before she even
lifted her head, she knew what she would see. Hanging in the pale
yellow-pink sky was a beautiful blue and white cresent. The Earth.
"I know this place. Where am I?"
"You know where you are." said a soft voice behind her and
she whirled around to face the speaker, an ethereal figure that was
just as familiar as the courtyard, yet just as unknown. It was tall,
and vaguely feminine, but she couldn't be sure. It kept drifting in
and out of focus and it's clothes and long hair swirled around it
as if moved my a breeze only it could feel. "You have only
forgotten."
"Where am I? What is this place?" she asked. "Why does this
all seem so familiar?"
"This place," replied the figure, gesturing around them. "This
palace," it gestured to a glittering outline of a majestic palace
that she hadn't noticed before. "This used to be your home."
"My... My home?" she looked around her again. "You mean I used
to live here?"
"Yes," said the image before her. "You, the princess and the
rest of her Senshi. You all lived here... before the end. Before the
darkness came that ended it all." A glittering tear formed and
drifted down it's face before being blown away in a sparkling trail.
"Princess...? Darkness...? Who are you? Why am I here?"
"You are here because you are the Second."
"I'm the Second? I don't understand. The second what?"
"You will remember, if the need arises." The world seemed to
blur and distort before her, fading away. "Do not forget." the
figure called, it's voice growing distant. "If anything should
happen, you are the Second." And the world disappeared into
balckness.

Naru Osaka gasped and sat up in bed. She was breathing hard
and her head felt funny. The windows of her bedroom were open and
a cool breeze drifted in, cooling her sweat-soaked face.
The digital clock on her nightstand read 3:27am.
"Wow," she breathed after she had her breathing under
control. *What a strange dream. I wander if it means anything...*
she thought, before lying down and falling back to sleep.
By morning, it would all be forgotten...

*****************

BAM!! "USAGI!!" Ms Haruna screamed, slamming a textbook down
on top of her desk, while the girl in question shot from her prone
position on her desk to her feet, blurting out the 'Usagi General
Purpose Excuse #157.'
"Ms Tsukino!! How dare you fall asleep in my class! If you
can't stay awake..."
Usagi zoned out at that point, head lowered and nodding
ocationally. She already knew she had just earned a detention this
afternoon. She'd heard all the variations of that lecture several
times over. She was just gratefull she'd had lunch already, or
she'd have spent lunchtime in a classroom as well.
She was just so tired. Every night for the last four nights,
Negaverse creatures had attacked seemingly random targets, and
Sailor Moon and the rest of the Senshi had had to fight them.
They'd won, of course. The Senshi always won. But the last one...
Last night it had almost... almost... Usagi tried not to think
about it.
"...and after turning up late for class, yet. If your
behaviour doesn't..."
Yeah. She'd been late as well this morning. The night before
an enemy had attacked... again... And sure enough, she was jerked
awake by an urgent message from Rei, summoning her and the others
to face another monster she had sensed during a fire reading. She
had returned home afterwards just in time to have a couple of hours
sleep before her mother had woken her for school.
Ami was waiting for her in the living room. She hadn't done
that for a while. Usagi was glad she had. She would have been even
later with out her there. Ami was acting bright and perky, but she
couldn't hide her slightly red eyes.
They were both late. It was the only reason Usagi hadn't had
a lunchtime detention as it was. Ms Haruna was so stunned to see Ami
late for class, she missed Usagi walking in after her and sit at her
desk.
"...this really isn't proper for a young..."
As they were running to school, they had met up briefly with
Minako, running equally as late and looking very much the worse for
wear. Eyes red, hair dishevelled and her uniform slightly twisted
and half untucked. They had discussed all the ideas about the
patters of the Negaverse's attacks they could think of, ending up
just as confused and dejected as before. The first creature and been
blowing up the foot-bridges in a park on the other side of Tokyo.
The second had tripped a ward in a temple near Usagi's house, and
had led Rei, then Usagi and Ami, then Minako and Makoto on a chase
all over the city before finally being cornered on the harbour docks
and destroyed. And then it was a monster draining energy from the
night watchmen at an empty warehouse.
And last night... Usagi shuddered. Last night a monster had
stood atop the Tokyo Tower yelling for 'the Great Sailor Moon' to
come challenge it. And she had. Blindly, STUPIDLY, entering the
elevator lowered for her. It was a trap, of course. Anyone could
have seen it. The others would have, but she hadn't waited for them.
She had just wanted to finish this as quickly as possible and go
back home to bed. It was only pure luck she was here at all, being
lectured by Ms Haruna. One of the severed wires had wrapped itself
around a girder, holding the elevator just long enough for her to
scramble out the hatch and jump to saftey before it crashed to the
ground.
"...if you aren't careful, young lady, you..."
Careful... She was too tired to even think about careful.
After barely managing to escape with her life, she 'oh, so
carefully' let it goad her into chasing it. She had followed it as
far as the first alley before tripping a wire and causing a whole
fire escape to come crashing down on top of her. Naturally, she had
fallen flat on her face, and could only watch dumbly as a half tonne
of metal dropped towards her. This time it was Tuxedo Kamen who
saved her, leaping in and hauling her out of harm's way, not even
having enough time to gracefully carry her to safety. He had had
to grab her by the bow of her fuku. And not even having anough
time to escape himself. A metal beam had bounced their way and
caught his ankle. There was no serious damage, but he had landed
badly and was knocked unconcious as he fell against the brick wall.
She had, true to form, gone immediatley to his side and
started bawling her eyes out. During which time, the monster had
strolled up behind her and whacked her one on the back of the head.
Or at least she supposed it did. One moment she was crying over her
Tuxedo Kamen-sama, the next she was staring groggily up at the
worried faces of Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Venus and
Sailor Jupiter, who had finally caught up with her in time to force
the monster to retreat through a portal.
"...never happen again. Do you hear me? ..."
'...Do you hear me? Never go after an enemy by yourself!'
Sailor Mars, standing over Sailor Moon, hands on hips. How many
times had she seen this? Probably more angry at me getting Tuxedu
Kamen injured than concerned about me, she thought.
'Ease up on her, Mars.' Sailor Jupiter, kneeling behind Sailor
Moon and putting her hands on her shoulders. 'This isn't the time
for it.'
'Then when is the time for it? After she's DEAD?!'
'Mars!' Sailor Mercury, running her computer over Tuxedo
Kamen's prone form. 'That's enough.'
'Yeah, she's had enough for one night.' Sailor Venus, also
kneeling next to Tuxedo Kamen.
Sailor Mars glared at Sailor Moon a moment longer then moved
to look over Mercury's shoulder. 'So how is he?'
'He will be fine. His ankle is swolen but not sprained. But he
will have a concussion for a day or two.'
Sailor Mars tensed up, her hands clasping into fists. A moment
passed, then 'Do you know what you've done?!!' She stormed over to
Sailor Moon and slapped her, causing her to see spots. She tried to
shy away, but Mars struck her again, causing pain to lance through
her already injured head. 'Do you even realise what could have
happened?!! DO YOU?!!'
'I'm sorry, Mars. I'm sorry.' Sailor Moon whimpered, holding
her head, a terrified expression on her face. 'I'm sorry. I'm
sorry...' she repeated, over and over.
'You're Sorry?!! You're SORRY?!!' Mars struck her again. Hard.
She fell back against Sailor Venus, who put her arms protectivly
around her as Sailor Moon curled up against her.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." she was crying now, trying to hide
in Sailor Venus's arms.
Jupiter got up and physically pulled Mars away. 'Come on, Mars.
Lets go home. None of us has had much sleep latley. Let's get you
home and we'll talk about it tomorrow, ok?'
Mars was struggling against Jupiter, who was now half carrying
her away. 'He could've died tonight! It would've been your fault.'
her voice rose in hysterics. 'You could have killed him!! You could
have killed him!!! You could have KILLED HIM!!'
"I'm sorry, Mars. I'm sorry..." Sailor Moon repeated over and
over into Venus's shoulder as Sailor Venus rocked her back and
forward, whispering soothingly to her.
Mercury was sitting and watching silently, her examination of
Mamoru momentarily forgotten, while Luna and Artemis looked down
sadly from the rooftop.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
"Usagi? Usagi?" Usagi felt herself being shaken lightly. She
came back to herself and focused through teary eyes at the worried
face before her. "Usagi? Are you alright?" Ms Haruna asked, her
voice lowered with concern, a hand waving behind her back to get
the students who had crowded around to go back to their desks.
Usagi tried to pull herself together. She noticed she was
sitting on the floor next to her desk, arms wrapped around herself
and her face wet with tears. The vividness of her memories- no.
Dream. She realised she must have fallen asleep on her feet, then
fell to the floor as she had done in the dream.
She looked around her. Ms Haruna was kneeling in front of
her, her hands still on her shoulders. The rest of the class was
standing around her, staring at her.
Still stunned from being woken up from from her dream, Usagi
could only stare back at them. "Um..." she croaked, then swallowed,
trying to get some moisture back in her mouth.
"Are you alright, Usagi?" Ms Haruna asked again, leaning
forward so Usagi was looking her in the eyes.
Usagi nodded weakly, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "I- I'm
ok." she whispered hoarsely. "I'm just so tired."
Satisfied for now with that answer, Ms Haruna nodded and
looked up to see Ami working her way forward behind Usagi. "Ami,
could you please take Usagi home? Make sure she-"
Usagi inturrupted her just as Ami reached down to help her
friend up. "Naru... Can Naru take me? Please?" Usagi didn't want
to talk to another Senshi just yet. She had been avoiding her and
Makoto all day.
Ami paused, her hand inches away from Usagi's shoulder. A
pained expression crossed her face, and faded into one of sad
acceptance as she straightened up and made room for Naru as she
helped Usagi to her feet and the two of them left the room, the
other students parting before them without a comment.
Ms Haruna stared at the door they had left by, then
realised that so was everyone else in the classroom. "Um, ok
everyone," she said, clapping her hands a couple of times. "Return
to your seats and read the rest of the chapter we were working
through." Everyone moved to their desks and picked up their books,
unusually subdued. "Oh, and everyone? Could you please not make a
big deal of this after school?" Nods and murmors. "Thank you. Ami?
Could I please see you for a minute?" She asked, walking out the
door and making her way towards the staffroom, a silent Ami Mizuno
following after her.

***************

"Usagi?" Naru asked quietly. The two of them were walking
along the footpath to Usagi's house. Neither had spoken in the ten
minutes or so since they'd left the classroom. "Usagi? What's
wrong?"
Usagi remained silent, just walking without thinking, not
even paying attention to where she was going.
"Usagi. Tell me what's wrong. I'm worried about you, y'know?"
Silence.
"Say something, Usagi." Naru asked in a sterner voice, hoping
to at least get a response out of her, if not an explaination.
"You wouldn't understand." Usagi replied in an expressionless
tone.
Naru didn't say anything. What could she say? She just took
Usagi's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Usagi lifted her
head at this, a slightly vague expression still on her face, then
turned and smiled at her friend.
This only worried Naru more. Her smile was genuine, but she
looked like she hadn't slept in a week. Her eyes were dark and
bloodshot, and she didn't notice it before, but though her hair was
in it's usual pigtails, they looked like they hadn't seen a brush in
a week.
"How about we go through the park?" Usagi asked, a more
cheerful note in her voice. "I don't really feel like going home
just yet."
"Sure." Naru said, happy that Usagi's spirits were lifting,
even just a little.
They crossed the street and walked into Ichinohasi Park,
following the path that wound around the lake in the middle.
Naru thought back a few days to when she and Usagi had last
been along this path, heading towards Usagi's house, eating ice
cream, and laughing and joking. She looked at her companion now.
Usagi was... somewhere else entirely. She was obviously preoccupied
with something. And in class... she'd seen her fall asleep in class
before. A lot of times, in fact. But never collapse and start crying
and apologising about it. Well, apologising about SOMETHING. Naru
didn't think Usagi was paying much attention to Ms Haruna. She
looked... asleep. A lot like she was now. Sort of sad,
expressionless face, eyes vacant and unblinking. *If I wasn't with
her, she'd probably have walked right off the path and into the
water.* She smirked for a second, then came back to the present.
*Whatever's got her down has really sunk its teeth into her.*
Naru gently led her off the path onto the grass and sat down,
pulling Usagi down beside her. Usagi blinked once, looking around
her a bit, then drew her knees up in her arms and laid her head on
them. Naru just watched her and sighed. "Usagi?" she whispered.
Silence.
"Usagi." Louder this time.
Nothing.
"Usagi, do you hear me?"

'...Do you hear me? Never go after an enemy by yourself!'
Sailor Mars, standing over Sailor Moon, hands on hips.

Usagi whimpered softly.
*She must be asleep, poor girl.* Naru laid a hand on her
shoulder.

Sailor Mars tensed up, her hands clasping into fists. A
moment passed, then 'Do you know what you've done?!!' She stormed
over to Sailor Moon and slapped her.

Much to Naru's concern, Usagi started sobbing and tried to
burry her face deeper in her arms. "Usagi!" she gasped, putting
both hands on her shoulders and trying to shake her awake.
"Usagi!"

She tried to shy away, but Mars struck her again, causing
pain to lance through her already injured head. 'Do you even
realise what could have happened?!! DO YOU?!!'

Usagi tried to pull away, "I'm sorry, Mars. I'm sorry."
Naru was despertley thinking about what to do. Trying to shake
her awake only seemed to make her worse.
*My god, what's happened to you?* She laid a hand on the
back of her head to stroke her hair, but jerked her hand back as
she felt a large welt on her scalp. Naru paled when she noticed
some dried blood on her fingertips. *My god,* she repeated to
herself, pulling Usagi closer and hugging her comfortingly.
*What's happend to you?*

But she knew the answer to that...

'You're Sorry?!! You're SORRY?!!' Mars struck her again.
Hard. She fell back against Sailor Venus, who put her arms
protectivly around her as Sailor Moon curled up against her.

To Naru's suprise, Usagi wrapped her arms her tightly,
sobbing and softly crying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." over and
over into her shoulder. Naru hugged her back, talking soothingly
to her.

An image appeared in her mind. A garden... A garden arranged
in geometric patterns around her. *I... remember.*

She was crying into Sailor Venus's shoulder, who was rocking
and whispering to her, "It's all right, Usagi. Everything will be
alright..."

Naru was rocking Usagi gently, who was crying more quietly
now into her shoulder "Oh, Usagi," she said to herself, then to the
girl crying in her arms, "It's alright, Usagi. Everything will be
alright..."

Hanging in the pale yellow-pink sky was a beautiful blue and
white cresent. The Earth. "I know this place. Where am I?"
"You know where you are." said a soft voice behind her and she
whirled around to face the speaker, an ethereal figure that was just
as familiar as the courtyard, yet just as unknown.
"Yes... I know where I am. I remember..."

"You know where you are." said a soft voice behind her and she
whirled around to face the speaker, an ethereal figure, tall, and
vaguely feminine. She kept drifting in and out of focus and it's
clothes and long hair swirled around her as if moved my a breeze
only it could feel.
"Mother...?"

Usagi had quietened down. Only an occational hiccup comming
from her friend. "Shh, It's alright, Usagi. Everything will be
alright. I remember."

The warmth of Sailor Venus's body, the motion of her rocking
gently, her soft voice, "Shh, It's alright, Usagi. Everything will
be alright. I remember."

The two girls sat before the woman in the center of the
eastern grounds garden, one comforting the other.
"It's alright, Usagi. Everything will be alright. I remember.
I know where I am. I remember."
"Mother...?"
"You, Princess, and your Senshi. We all lived here... before
the end. Before the darkness came that ended it all." Naru said in a
soft voice.
A glittering tear formed and drifted down the woman's face
before being blown away in a sparkling trail. But a gentle smile was
on her serene face. "Yes. You remember."
This time, Naru could feel the breeze. Warm, but somehow cold
as well. As if...

Usagi and Naru were sitting side by side at the edge of the
lake in the park, supporting each other now. They didn't know how
long they'd been sitting there, but they were both staring up at the
crescent moon in the dimming sky.
"As if it's not there anymore." Naru spoke softly and sighing
sadly.
"Yeah..." Usagi breathed.
They sat in companionable silence for a while longer.
"Come on, Princess." Naru said finally, getting to her feet
and holding out a hand for Usagi. "Let's get you home."
Usagi took her hand and let herself be pulled up, a happy smile
on her face, "Sure thing... Sailor Moon."
The two walked off through the park together, hand in hand.
The Moon Princess and her Senshi of the Moon. The setting sun
behind them, and the new moon rising ahead.

END.

---------------
Author's notes.
If you've gotten this far, thank you so much for reading this.
I hope you enjoyed it.
This is the prolouge chapter of "The Dark Side of the Moon",
though, it could almost be it's own stand alone story called "New
Moon Rising" which has a better ring to it.
I know it gets a little confiuing towards the end with the
scenes jumping all over the place and overlapping. It's supposed to
be that way. Usagi's nightmare, Naru's remembered dream, the
lakeside, and the palace gardens. They're all sopposed to mesh into
each other.
If you were expecting a big explinaion of the 'Second' thing,
you'll have to wait for the next couple of chapters ;)

Thanks again,
Ben.
dragonstar@funky.wow.aust.com
---------------

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("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._
`6_ 6 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`)
(_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `. ``-..-'
_..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.'_,'
(((' (((-((('' ((((
=====================================
= Ben Gibbons, aka DragonStar =
== dragonstar@funky.wow.aust.com ==
= http://www.fam.aust.com/funky =
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