standard disclaimers apply: I don't own sailor moon or any of the characters related to it, so please don't sue me!

now on with the story . . . enjoy! . . .

Chapter 9:

At Darien's Apartment . . .

Everyone sluggishly came into Darien's apartment through the balcony, detransforming as they walked through the glass doors. They had tired and grim features on their faces.

The dark, gray and black clouds had just engulfed the warm, blazing sun they had woken up to, and the rain started falling. You could hear the pitter-patter of the rain become louder and louder as it fell faster and faster from the dark skies above. It was as if the Lady Earth (AN: just means the earth) felt her Prince's anguish and despair of losing his sun . . . his light . . . his Princess . . . his Serenity . . . his Usako . . .

Luna and Artimas came out of Darien's bedroom to a very tension-filled room (AN: remember, they were keeping an eye on rini).
Luna: "What happened?"
Artimas: "Why does everyone look like that?"
Darien didn't say one word. He slowly made his way to his favorite chair and sat down, still holding onto the locket as if his life depended on it.

Luna noticed that her charge was no where to be seen and exclaimed, "Where is she!? What happened?! Why do you have her locket?! ANSWER ME!!!!!!"

No one answered. They all bowed their heads in shame. Each one feeling his or her guilt of what had happened and for feeling helpless when their Princess needed them most.

Mina, feeling bold enough to put herself head-on into Luna's wrath, spoke softly, "They have her . . . he took her . . ."

Luna: "How the HELL did YOU let this HAPPEN?! HOW COULD YOU NOT PROTECT HER?! There are ELEVEN, ELEVEN of YOU! WHY COULDN'T ONE OF YOU KEEP HER SAFE!!??" She yelled with tears welling up in her eyes. Artimas tried comforting her as everyone else felt stung by her words.
"Luna, calm down. Rini is still sleeping. We don't want to wake her and scare her, nor do we want her to worry about her mother just yet," Artimas replied soothingly to Luna as she cried on his shouldar.

Darien felt even worse after Luna's outburst. The Earth responded to its Prince's mood by causing the sky to turn darker and darker and the rain to fall faster and faster.

After a long silence, Darien finally spoke up, "She's right, you know. There are eleven of us . . . " he couldn't finish his thought because the tears that he thought were gone and those he thought he could hold back, could not be stopped. He fell off the chair onto the cold, hard floor. He landed on his knees and held onto the locket tighter and tighter against his chest.

"Usako!! Please come back!! I cant' be without you!!! Please come back . . . come back to me . . . please?!"

The senshi looked shocked. They had never seen Darien like this before. They only now comprehended how much they (AN: the they refers to serena and darien) meant to each other . . . how much he needs her . . . how much he loves her . . .

As the senshi stared with awe, the generals felt guilt and pain . . . guilt for breaking their promise and not protecting the princess . . . pain for the condition their prince was in.

None of them knew what to say or do. They wished with all their might that someone would hear their cries and return Serena to him . . . to them.

As if an answer to their prayers, a portal opened. A woman dressed in a senshi uniform stepped through (AN: wonder who it could be?). She saw their dejected faces. Her eyes fell upon the Prince. He was curled up in a ball, clutching the silver crystal, begging her to come back. She felt his pain . . . she, who had the power to know all and see all, could never have forseen this . . . she never expected it. When she found out, it was already too late to do anything . . .

In Diamond's Chamber's: 30th Century Crystal Tokyo . . .

Serenity is tossing and turning in Diamond's bed. She is feeling many emotions as she tries to fight the evil that is seeping inot her mind, body, and soul. She feels her Prince's pain, as well as that of two others. She doesn't understand who these two other people were and why she would be feeling their pain. The only person whom she is connected to is her beloved Mamo-chan, and that's because of their soulmate link/bond.

'How can I feel their pain so much? Who are they and how and why am I connected to them?' she thought (AN: keep this in mind, its important to explain the ending.)

A figure walked into the room (AN: who could it be? diamond?). He saw her tossing and turning. He knew she was in pain. He also knew that she was trying harder and harder to fight the efforts of the Dark crystal. He had mixed feelings about this. Part of him wanted her to give up . . . to give into the crystal, so that she would not suffer anymore. The other part of him wanted her to fight . . . continue to fight as she was now . . . he wanted her to resist and to never give up. This part of him knew that if she gave up, she would change . . . she wouldn't be the same person she was before, and he didn't know if anything or anyone could change her back.

He had grown quite fond of her and felt a sort of protectiveness over her. He was amazed at all she did for her friends, even her enemies . . . always forgiving . . . always wanting to help. He did love her, but not in the way he loved another. He just wished things could've been different . . . he wanted her to be his friend, and teach him all the things she's taught the world and will teach in the future.

'She won't be able to teach any of those things in the future,' he thought bitterly. 'Not if she gives up . . . not if the Wiseman wins.'

He was broken out of his thoughts by her constant cries of pain. He didn't understand what was happening to her.

'Why is she in so much pain? Is it the dark crystal? Maybe Pluto was right (AN: if you can't figure out who this person is, then i can't help you anymore than i have, j/k)? . . . she can't handle all of this dark energy . . . what if . . . what if she dies? . . . what will happen? . . . What will Petz think? . . . ' with these thoughts in mind, he left the room in search of his brother . . . (AN: for those of you who haven't figured it out, the figure was . . . saffir.)

Back at Darien's Apartment: The Present . . .

(AN: when pluto is thinking about serena, she calls her serenity, when everyone else is thinking about her, they call her serena).

Everyone stared at Pluto. Each felt angry at her for not warning them about this. She sensed this animosity and spoke up, before one of them had a chance to verbally assault her and dampen her already guilty frame of mind, "I know that all of you are mad at me over this. I feel guilty enough as it is. Although I am the keeper of the Time Gate, and know what happens before it does, there are certain things that even I don't know, this was one of them. There are other powers at work her (AN: the p.t.b. = powers that be) . . . these powers control what I can and cannot see. I found out about this too late . . . by the time I found out, it was too late to do anything . . . I should've tried harder . . . but-"

At this point, Pluto could no longer hold back the tears that had welled up in her eyes. She and Serenity were very close, Pluto was considered by both, as well as others, as being Serenity's older sister. Pluto felt helpless. The knowledge of what's happening to Serenity at this very moment (AN: getting filled with dark energy) wasn't helping her feeling any.

They all saw Pluto in a new light. No longer was she the stoic, omnipotent, emotionless woman they all thought she was, but she was what Serena saw in her. Serena always told them stories about Pluto . . . how she jokes . . . how she laughs . . . how she cries . . . They never believed that the Pluto they were accustomed to was the same Pluto Serena told them about.

Darien saw her and realized that she felt the same way as him . . . as all of them. He began to understand her. He spoke softly to her, "Pluto, it wasn't your fault, nor is it fair for us to blame you alone. I guess we just needed a scapegoat. Please accept our apology, we should not have blamed you. Please forgive me, forgive us."

Pluto did not expect such understanding, especially not from the distraught prince. She looked at everyone and saw that they were indeed sorry, "Please, your majesty. It was I who should be apologizing to you," Darien was about to speak but Pluto cut him off, "At any rate, I forgive you, all of you."

Darien spoke for everyone when he said, "Thank you."

Zack, hoping to change the subject and figure out where Serena could be asks, "Luna, Artimas. What information did you find out?"

Artimas: "Not that it will do any good now, but we found out that Diamond has some sort of infatuation with Serena's future self, Neo-Queen Serenity. Something happened to her in the future, so he figured-"
Darien interupted, his fingers clenched in anger and jealousy, "If he can't have her in the future, why not take her from the past."
Pluto: "Yes. Those attacks on her were to make her weak enough to accept energy from the dark crystal. I'm afraid that Diamond's obssession may kill her."
Rei: "What do you mean?"
"Diamond will do anything to get what he wants. He doesn't realize that Serenity will resist with all her might, nor does he realize that filling her with too much dark energy could kill her, especially now that she doesn't even have the silver crystal to help protect her."

Pluto stopped and waited for everyone to absorb all the knowledge.

Everyone looked at one another. They were all eager to go. Before they could say anything, Darien spoke, "I want Ami to accompany me, just in case soemthing happened to Usako. Zack, I want you to stay here and keep an eye on Rini, just in case something bad happens to Rini (AN: if serena ceases to exist, so does rini). As for the rest of you, try to decide without arguing too much. I'm going to tell Rini what's going on. Zack, Ami, please follow me." The three of them proceeded to the bedroom, leaving the remaining senshi and generals to decide who will go and who will stay.

Luna and Artimas realized that it would be a difficult choice, so they decided that everyone should draw straws. Those that drew the shortest ones would go. Pluto got the straws and held them in her left hand, as each one of them came up and took a straw. Jay got the shortest, followed by Haruka and then Michael.

Darien and Ami came out of the bedroom. Jay, Haruka, and Michael stepped forward, indicating that they were the ones chosen to go.

Everyone said their "Good luck's" and "Be careful's," as the six of them disappeared through the portal.

At the Time Gate . . .

The atmosphere is foggy and desolate, leaving everyone but Pluto with an eerie feeling.

Pluto led them to a large door. She explained that it would lead them directly to Diamond's fortress and that they should concentrate all their energy on getting there. She warned them if they didn't, they could end up anywhere in time.

Tuxedo Mask stood in the middle. Mercury and Jedite were to his right, Malachite and Uranus were to his left. They held hands and Pluto opened the door. Some strong gusts of wind blew out of it as they proceeded to walk towards it. Once inside they heard Pluto yell "Good luck and be careful," before hearing the closing of the door.

They were flying through this gateway, focusing on their destination and reaching their princess.

After what seemed like an eternity, they reached their destination. They landed on a hill that overlooked the city. They looked around them and saw what the war had done to this once beautiful city. The skies were dark, everything was destroyed . . . the streets were empty. The only light came from the force-field surrounding the Crystal Palace. The palace was the only structure left standing.

Malachite saw the fortress on the outskirts of the city and pointed it out to the others. They began walking towards it . . .

Later . . .

They reached the entrance of the fortress. It was dark, and they each felt the evil eminating from it. Mercury turned on her visor and took out her data computer. She began to scan the area to check for guards, a way in, and most importantly, any signs of Serena. She didn't have to worry about finding her since Tux felt the familiar tug at his soul. He cried out in pain as he felt what she was going through. Malachite and Jedite rushed to his side.

They all ran to the west side and sure enough, no one was there, or so they thought.

A figure watched them as they climbed up the wall using the vines, and then he saw them go through one of the doors. He had made sure no one would be there to bother them. Now he had to help them once they got to the room.

The door led them to a long, narrow stair-case. The only light was that of the candles on the wall. Cautiously, they went down the stairs. Uranus led the group, followed by Mercury, Tux, Malachite and Jedite.

The stairs led them to a large room covered by mirrors. Uranus felt an evil presence and warned everyone to stay close.

The lone figure watched them again, hoping that the portal he opened would help the prince find his princess (AN: know who he is? i do!).

Another part of the Fortress . . .

Tux fell through a portal and landed on the cold marble floor. He got up and looked around at his surroundings. He ended up in a long corridor and decided to follow his instincts, hoping that they would lead him to her.

A few moments later, he began sensing her . . . her presence. He didn't know exactly where she was, but knew she was near.

He closed his eyes and let his senses take over once more, allowing them to feel her . . . guide him to where she had been taken.

He was very determined . . . he would not lose her . . . not now, not ever! Nothing would stand in his way . . . he almost felt bad for anyone who dared come between him and his goal . . . his beloved . . .

He began feeling her presence become stronger and stronger as he walked faster and faster towards her.

He felt mixed emotions. He was happy, almost giddy, by the thought that he would see her again . . . touch her . . . feel her . . . hold her and never let go. He also could not wait to taste her sweet lips on his own . . . he hadn't kissed her for . . . for months . . . he didn't understand how he was able to go on for so long without a kiss from her.

Although he felt this way, he also felt like killing someone . . . especially the man responsible for all of this. Tux was angry and kept thinking of ways he could kill Diamond. He smirked at the thought of a slow, torturous way for Diamond to die. But, he had to put these feelings aside.

He stood in front of a large, white door. The door was beautiful . . . its intricate designs accentuated its regal look and splendor. He knew that she was in there . . . he felt her presence most strongly there. He placed his hand on the knob and slowly turned it . . .

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