Chapter Twelve: Two Defeats, One Good, One Bad.

            *Thereon shot a blast of magic at Sailor Moon, but she simply knocked it away. He harder he tried to hit her, the more he missed. Fed up, he charged at her with nothing short of killing her running through his mind.   

            The Scouts watched as their friend fought. They had battled Thereon’s youma for so long, ever since Serena had left them, that it seemed odd not to be the ones fighting now. They had been scared to death to fight, but they had never had a choice once Serena had left them. They had realized that they had made a grave mistake the day she left, but couldn’t find her to tell her. When they were told that her parents and brother had been in a car wreck, they felt even worse. Everything had fallen into place, as if the destiny that they had been shown when they were younger was a mirage, nothing but an image created to please their imaginations. They watched the fight, each with their own emotions and feelings for their small moon princess washing throughout them, and each feeling guilt at their past decisions.

            Darien watched as his ex-girlfriend parried Thereon’s perfect punches and kicks. If he weren’t so evil, Thereon wouldn’t have been so bad to get to know. Then he caught a glance of Serena. What a fool he was to have let her go. He looked her up and down. In place of her knobby knees were long slender and shapely legs. Nice curves, full ruby lips, shiny golden locks, and porcelain skin. He wanted her back, gods how he wanted her back. Turning from watching her, he glanced at the guy she had brought with her from… where had she been again? Didn’t matter. So he was an assassin? He was probably rough and harsh, and probably treated her really poorly. She probably couldn’t stand him, and he made her stay with him. Well, it would be no problem getting rid of him. He would just convince the Scouts that this ‘Hiiro’ character was bad. They would do the work for him. Then he and Serena could pick up where they left off, and he would not only get to be the King, but have a gorgeous and easy wife to fool with when his was board. He grinned and settled in to watch the fight, and of course, pretended to be worried about his ‘one and only true love.’

            Hiiro was ready to jump into the fray. He watched as Thereon slowly began to gain the upper hand with his Serry, his best friend, and his only lo…stop. What was he going to say? This was crazy talk. Another surge of protection washed over him as Thereon picked Serena, no Sailor Moon, up by her collar and threw her into a wall. Then he knew just what he was going to say. He was going to say exactly what had been in his heart the entire time he had known her, ever since he had heard her voice over the radio waves in his Gundam.  He loved her. He would always care for her as a best friend, but it was more than that. Somewhere along the lines, he began to want more than just a kiss on the cheek for a goodnight. He never wanted her to have to say goodnight and leave the room for her own. He wanted to wake up with her in his arms, for her to be smiling at him when the sun peeked up over the horizon, for her to love him just as much as he loved her. After he admitted it, he felt elated. He couldn’t wait to tell her. He watched her land a punch on Thereon. He knew she would win; he had the gut instinct that she would.

            Thereon had had enough. Though she was beautiful, she was deadly. He had thought that by killing her family, he would weaken her spirits. He had thought that without her Scouts, she would give in easily. He had thought she would be so broken by the time she returned from the other dimensions that he would have no problems with her. He underestimated her. But, isn’t that what he had promised he would never do?  When he had first heard of the planet Earth in the Nega verse, he had thought it was a waste of time. When he heard of Sailor Moon killing Beryl, and then the Doom Tree, and finally even Chaos herself, he wanted a try. He studied her every move, this Moon girl from thousands of years ago. He became intrigued by her methods: don’t kill the Doom Tree, heal it. He loved her beauty, her charm, her ditziness, and thought he might keep her to entertain himself after he conquered Earth. She turned out to be too much of a threat now, and she had to be eliminated. ‘Oh well, her friends might be just as fun. That Tuxedo Mask is just as hot as she is anyway, he would make a good replacement for her.’ He thought, and with renewed vigor attacked Sailor Moon.

            Sailor Moon felt Thereon tiring, but was too tired herself to attack him. She was using so much energy to block him and then attack that she was wearing herself out quickly. Every time she let her guard down for even a few seconds, she was rammed with either a kick, a punch, or a blast of magic. ‘Magic…’ she thought. ‘Magic! That’s it! I’ve been fighting him with punches, kicks and energy, not magic!’ Sailor Moon quickly opened her sub pace pocket and pulled out her old scepter. ‘Well, start out small and work your way up.’ She chided herself. As she rose to her feet, she threw her best scepter attack at Thereon.

            “Moon Scepter Activation!” She heard Thereon yelp out in pain and knew she had hit a weak spot. In all the time she had spent learning to fight a proper martial arts battle, wielding a sword, and using energy attacks, she had forgotten the most powerful attacks against some one from the Nega verse was a magical one. Once again, she hit him hard with the magic from her scepter and she heard him gasp in pain.

            “Why you little!” Thereon roared and sent a shot of magic back at her. She blocked it easily and then threw her tiara at him.

            “Moon Princess Halation!” On and on she hit him with her best attacks. She transformed into Super Sailor Moon, then Eternal Sailor Moon, and finally, she stood as Sailor Cosmos.  “Back down now, Thereon, or you’ll feel my true power.”

            “Oh, I’m shaking!” Sailor Cosmos readied one of her newest attacks to throw at him.

            “Arch Angel Kiss of Death!” she quickly followed it up with “Crisis Cross Resurrection!” Now, Thereon seemed unharmed, which scared her.

            “Did you really think I was going to die now, today, at your hand? Fate wants me to live, to thrive! You and your friends, you’re useless against my power!”

            “No!”

            “Yes!” With that, he blasted her with a caliber of magic that she couldn’t block, and she screamed in pain as she was thrown through the trunk of a tree. She was so beaten by now that she didn’t have enough energy to stand to face him again. “You’ve lost Sailor Cosmos! You never could have won in the first place.” He laughed in her face as he built up magic for one last blow to finish her off.

            “Serry! Fight him! You can win!”

            “Serry?” She asked, half unconscious. She knew that voice. It was filled with concern, and…love? “Hiiro…” Yes, she would fight, if Hiiro thought she could, then she could and would. She slowly stood again to face Thereon, and just as he hurtled the magic at her, she out stretched her arms and cried out.

            “Cosmic Crystal Power!” A blinding light filled the sky and all around them.

            “No, you can’t win! You’re just a little girl! I made you! No!” And with his last words, Thereon dropped to his knees, then disintegrated to dust and was blown away by the wind.

            Sailor Moon dropped to the floor on her knees and stared at the spot where Thereon had been only moments ago. Heaving a loud sigh, she looked back to her friends. They stared at the same spot she had been staring at. Then, they focused on her. Suddenly, she was surrounded by the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask, all asking how she was, if she was alright, if she was tired, if she was hurt, and so on. She looked for Hiiro’s face in the crowd, but found herself only met with Darien’s face.

            “Usako? Are you alright? You’re so beautiful; I’m so sorry Usako.”

            “I’m fine, but flattery will get you no where Chiba. Where’s Hiiro?”

            “But Usako?  I love you. We’re destined to be together, don’t you remember?”

            “I remember you dumping me over dreams, being mad at me for being friends with other guys, and being really unsupportive of me when I needed you the most.”

            Hiiro watched Serry from the bushes. He saw her transformation give way and reveal her normal self. He watched as her friends crowded her, and how they acted worried for her. He stepped back from the clump of people and saw her look around for something. He was about to say something, but then the man in the stupid tuxedo blocked him out. All he heard was ‘Usako’ and ‘I love you’, but that was all it took. He had lost. He knew when he was beat. This man in the black tuxedo, he could say the words that were in his heart, and he couldn’t. Hiiro turned and walked off, thinking he would leave Serena alone with her new friends and true love.

            “But Usako…”

            “No buts Darien, get lost. Anyone see where Hiiro went?”

            “Meatball head! You and Darien are destined for each other. You can’t just leave him high and dry.”

            “Sorry Rei, but Darien just wants to be King, and he figures that he might as well get lucky with me while he’s at it. No, don’t give me that innocent look Darien, it’s so obvious that it practically blinded me. I’m not your toy, sorry. As for destiny, if you all want destiny to happen the way we saw it when we were younger, that’s fine. But me, I’m making a new destiny for myself. It’s time you all woke up. You make destiny, and fate can’t decide anything for you. I learned that while I was gone, maybe you need to learn that now.”

            “But Sere, Crystal Tokyo? Rini? What’ll happen to them?” Asked Lita.

            “Simple. Nothing, because they’ll never happen in the first place.”

            “Can you do that?” Asked Hotaru.

            “I can do anything I want, remember, I make up the rules of the game this time around, not destiny or fate.”

            “What about Darien?” Asked Michiaru.

            “Yeah, what about Darien?” Asked Darien.

            “What about him?”

            “Don’t you love him?” Asked Luna.

            “No.”

            “She’s right. If there was anything left between them, I would feel it. But there’s nothing, not even a spark. Now, I felt something just before I passed out against the tree, know anything about that Sere?” Now Mina was fully awake and in the action. Serena simply blushed and looked around for Hiiro again.

            “He’s gone koneko-chan. I already looked for him.”

            “Where did he go?”

            “Who?” Asked pretty much everyone, except for Haruka of course.

            “My friend Hiiro. Where is he?”

            “Sere, maybe he went back to his hotel or something.” Said Hotaru thoughtfully.

            “He’s staying with me. And he wouldn’t have left with without me. Unless… oh Selene!” When Serena tried to stand, however, she found her legs were like heavy weights. She was still drained from the fight. Lita and Haruka lifted her and Haruka drove her home. When Serena got to the house, she and the scouts, save Darien, rushed in. Frantic, she looked around the house for Hiiro.

            “Dad, Sammy, have you seen Hiiro?” She asked them when she found them in the family room watching TV.

            “Yeah, he came in about ten minutes ago, then raced out, and shut the door real hard behind him.”

            “Serena, we need to talk… why are your friends dressed like the Sailor Scouts?”

            “Because they are the Sailor Scouts dad. I’m one of them too, I’m Sailor Moon. You said Hiiro ran in, ran out, and slammed the door behind him Sammy?”

            “Yeah, and…”

            “His laptop is gone! No! Selene!”

            “ Koneko-chan, what does his laptop have to do with anything?”        

            “He only would have taken it if he wasn’t planning on coming back. Selene! Why did he leave me? Oh Selene!” Serena dropped to her knees for the second time that day and screamed. She just sat there, with all of her friends around her, feeling as empty and alone as she had felt just before she tried to kill herself. He was gone, her Hii-chan was gone. Forever. Tears streamed down her face as she silently wept for her secret lost love.*