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Chronicles by Lady Yue

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The days that followed the attack at All That Glitters by the youma, the word that Luna had informed her was what the Dark Kingdom used to refer to their monsters (it figured the bad guys would have to be so stuck on themselves that they had to come up with a fancy word to call something a monster), were quiet in that there weren’t any appearances of any more horrible monsters. Although according to Luna, Serena shouldn’t get used to that being the norm. The sudden appearance of the Senshi of the Moon, when there had never been one before had probably thrown their enemies off their stride, but it wouldn’t last long. They’d get over their surprise and be up to their world domination and destruction plans soon enough.

Until then, they had to make use of the youma-free time to bring Serena up to speed as a Senshi. Luna had explained that there were other Senshi, which made the blonde demand to know where they had been during her battle with the Zombie Queen reject since her job would have been a helluva lot easier if she had had backup instead of going in blind. Particularly when you added in the fact that Luna explained that the other Senshi would be able to access and make use of their experiences in the past life to fight and thus be able to fight far more efficiently then she who had no previous experiences. Luna had just given her some vague answer about triggers and awakenings before continuing on.

The bottom line was that Serena had been lucky in her first battle. The youma she had defeated wasn’t the best in the Dark Kingdom’s line up (which made her fear what actually was because that thing hadn’t been exactly to take down). She had to get better at fighting and using her tiara so that she didn’t get it knocked out of her hands when she used it. While her improve had worked, as the incident clearly demonstrated, she wasn’t meant to make use of her powers that way and she couldn’t always stay in her Senshi form for a few hours to heal her hands.

For one thing it would make her energy signature that much clearer for the Dark Kingdom trace. In her civilian form, her energy signal was weaker or maybe it was better to say that it didn’t glow as brightly as in her Senshi form; something that Luna theorized was probably a precaution that Queen Maia of Mercury had added when the great Queens had used their powers to allow those of the Silver Millennium to be reborn. Because her energy wasn’t as brilliant in her civilian form, it made it possible for her to hide amongst other humans and make it nearly impossible for the Dark Kingdom to find her (Serena hadn’t been too pleased with that ‘nearly’ word). Yet it worked against Serena and Luna because it would make it harder to find the other Senshi, whose energy signatures would be even weaker then Serena’s because they were yet unawakened.

Then there was the fact that despite one appearance of Sailor Moon and she was an immediate media darling who were hungry for more information on the world’s newest heroine. And let’s face it the media could be as bad if not worse then the Dark Kingdom to Sailor Moon’s well being.

Bottom line she was going to have to improve her battle skills and improve fast.

Which was the only reason why she was up before noon on a Saturday, which was the on precious day out of the week that she allotted herself time to sleep in since she had way to much to do during the rest of the week with her classes and extracurricular activities (which sadly looked like they’d have to be downsized due to her new occupation of fighting ugly ass youma to protect the world). Luna might have been harping about training and destiny since the first night they had met, but the feline couldn’t in all good conscious interfere with Serena’s academics. Not when there was that possibility that the Dark Kingdom would one day be defeated once and for good and where would her charge be without a good education? One couldn’t make a paycheck from being a Senshi of Love and Justice, now could they?

“Pick up the pace, Serena,” Luna ordered, as she ran beside the blonde whose speed had slowed down enough to be noticeable to the feline. The young woman glared at the cat but picked up her speed once more even though she would have loved to do nothing better then to slow down. It was already eleven and she had been working out for the past three hours doing the various exercises and drills that the cat had demanded which had included stretching, crunches, sit ups, jump rope, Frisbee throwing (to improve her abilities with her tiara) and now running.

Serena hadn’t been in bad shape to begin with, but three hours was a bit of an overkill, or at least in her opinion it was. Besides it had begun to rain in the past five minutes and it didn’t look it was going to be a quick shower but a full out storm which she really didn’t want to run in for various reasons which two of included health and vanity. The problem was explaining it to the gung-ho drill sergeant of a cat.

“Luna,” the blonde panted as she continued to run. “It’s starting to rain. I think it’s going to storm soon.”

“And do you think rain is going to stop the Dark Kingdom from attacking,” Luna retorted. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night-”

The cat was suddenly cut off when Serena stopped running abruptly which caused said cat to slam face first into the back of Serena calf, causing both them some pain. They both rubbed their sore spots while glaring at each other.

“Luna, I’m a newly awakened Senshi not the postal service,” Serena said. “Furthermore I really don’t think it’s going to hurt anybody if I go train in climate controlled gym to train. Besides, what good am I to anyone if I get sick?”

Before Luna could respond, someone else did which caused them both to freeze in panic because they both knew what could happen if anyone got wind of a real talking cat. People would be coming from all around the world to see Luna or try to kidnap her to make money off of. Or, which was probably the worst case scenario in their minds, the government would come take custody of Luna for a scientific study to understand why she could talk and other cats could. In other words, cruel and inhuman experimentation.

“Do you always stand in the rain and complain to your cat as if you expect it so speak back, Meatball Head?’

The words sank in and panic was replaced with righteous fury. Damn it, of all the people to run into, why’d it have to be THAT jerk!?! She spun around, her eyes flaring with the light of battle. Hot guy or not, there was some things that a girl just couldn’t put up with and having her creativity and individuality made fun of and likened to some Italian dish was one of them.

“Don’t call me that, you Cro-Magnon jerk,” Serena retorted. “I have a name you know, although clearly you lack manners to-”

“Serena, chill out,” the hunk of a jerk said, which caused her to stop in mid-sentence. How the hell did he know her name? Was he some weird ass stalker person? Clearly her expression was very open and telling because he added, “That quiz paper you beamed me with the other day had your name.”

“More proof of bad manners,” she snapped. “You shouldn’t have been looking at.”

“You threw it in my face,” he retorted.

“I wasn’t aiming for you! You just became an accidental casualty.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“Believe me when I purposely throw something at you, you’ll know,” Serena snarled, wondering how this one guy could piss her off so easily. Sure he had made fun of her hair, but it wasn’t like it was the first time she had heard some derogatory comment about the hairstyle. There was just something about this one man… “If you hadn’t been such a jerk, I would have apologized.”

There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other. Serena was again struck by the thought of how good-looking the guy really was. Totally and utterly scrumptious. The kind of guy that would have been plastered on the cover of Play Girl. Not that she read that or anything. Okay so she had one copy of the magazine but that had been a gag gift from Molly on her eighteenth birthday. Said magazine was currently in a box under her bed back at the dorm because the last thing she needed was her mother to come across it while cleaning her room at home and then showing her father. Kent Devlin would probably die of stroke and then come back looking like that zombie thing she fought last night and kill her.

“Okay you’re right sorry,” the guy said, causing Serena to blink a few times in surprise. It had been her experience that most guys didn’t quite cave in so easily and admit to being wrong and apologizing. She just might have to revise her opinion of the guy to being something higher then a Cro-Magnon jerk. “I was having a bad day the other day and I took it out on you. It wasn’t fair to you so I’m sorry for that. Let’s wipe the slate and start off clean.”

She gave him a wary look, but nodded her head in agreement. She really wasn’t the type of person to hold a grudge although this guy might have been the first with the way he seemed to hit her buttons so easily. It was one of the reasons why she iffy about this Senshi business. But the mere fact that could use the Moon Prism Brooch proved that it this was her destiny and she was the Senshi of the Moon. She could be a flake occasionally but Serena had never backed down when it came to something serious or try to pass her responsibilities to someone else. Whether she liked it she was Sailor Moon and it was her responsibility to protect Earth from the Dark Kingdom and find and protect the mysterious Princess that Luna had mentioned.

“I’m Darien Knight,” the man said, holding out his hand. The blonde turned Darien’s name in her mind for a moment, thinking that the name suited him. He certainly brought the image of a knight old. All valiant and manly.

“Serena Devlin,” she said, taking his hand and shaking it, although she had to fight back the instinctive response to jerk her hand back when a sharp jolt went through her the moment skin touched. What in Selene was that? “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Now that we’re friends,” he said, which made her arch an eyebrow since that was pushing it a bit. More like acquaintances really, but on totally female point of view she wouldn’t mind hanging around him. He could annoy her easily, but he was the kind of man that a woman couldn’t deny his attractiveness no matter how much he ticked her off. “You mind answering my question. Sans the name of course.”

“Luna’s a smart cat,” Serena answered, wondering if he had heard the cat speak or not. She was seriously hoping for the not otherwise she’d have to find a way to beam him in the head and hope he lost his memory as a result. “So it feels like she understands me. Besides she was following me while I was running and it seemed like she was nagging at me.”

“You’re some kind of art major aren’t you,” Darien asked.

“I haven’t declared yet, no, but so what if I was?” Her tone was a bit defensive. Understandable considering she had had an argument recently with her father about what she planned to choose as her major. Kent Devlin didn’t think that art was a suitable major to pursue because there was no hope in the field. It was a pipe dream and Serena should choose something better since she currently had no prospects of a boyfriend she could one day marry to take care of. In her own way, she knew her father cared but there were some things they just didn’t see eye to eye on.

“Sheath the claws,” he replied. “I have nothing against the arts or anything. I just meant that you must be the artsy type to have such a vivid imagination in regards to your cat.”

“Oh…” she said trailing off, feeling sheepish and bad that she had almost jumped down his throat again. “Sorry. It’s a bit of touchy subject. My father wants me to pick a major that has better career opportunities…”

“Don’t let him get to you,” Darien said, reaching out and cuffing her gently on the chin. “If it doing something with art makes you happy, then go for it. It’s your life and if you’re not happy with the job you have, no amount of money or benefits is going to help.”

The blonde stared at him for a moment, before she broke out into a bright and sunny smile that seemed to make the whole world brighten up with her despite the rain coming down that was steadily increasing. Darien had noticed it the other morning, but Serena really was a beautiful young woman; her beauty was enhanced even more by that smile although he felt she’d still be beautiful to him even if she was crying or in a morose mood. He wondered if she was single, but even if she was he knew it wouldn’t matter because there was only one woman for him even if he had yet to see her face or meet her in person.

“You better head back to your dorm before you catch a cold, Serena,” he said, having come to the conclusion that this beautiful young woman could only be a friend, someone he’d care about and treat like a younger sister; that is if he had a younger sister which his past made impossible.

“Oh yeah,” she said, apparently just realizing again that they were out in the rain. “You too. That is you should head back to your dorm.” She paused and considered that he was a few years older then her… “Or apartment. I doubt you’d still be living on campus. See you around, Darien.”

“See ya, Serena.”

The blonde turned and began running back towards her dorm with the black cat running at her heels. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Darien still standing where she left him. He wasn’t staring at her, but off in the distant which perked her curiosity. What was he thinking of? Or should she ask who? Somehow she was disturbed by the thought of him thinking of who which was weird since she barely knew him...

“Serena? Serena? SERENA!”

“Hmmm… what Luna,” Serena said, turning to look down at the cat.

“You don’t think that man heard me, did you,” the cat asked.

“Doubtful Luna,” replied Serena. “He doesn’t come off as the type to not say anything about it if he had heard you. I think we’re safe.”

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“Jadeite! Present yourself to me now,” Queen Beryl ordered, leaning back on her black marble throne as she waited for the general to appear. It was an annoyance that she had to wait more then a few minutes to have her greatest generals appear before her.

However, she understood that despite the irritation there were advantages of allowing the four to continue on with the civilian identities that that they had born to in this life. They had access to knowledge that they wouldn’t have if she had simply claimed and wiped their memories of their current life as she had intended. It had been Zoicite, who had come up with the idea although she suspected that Kunzite had something to do about it. Even in this life, that man refused to be completely submissive to her. In any case, Zociite had made a valid point that they could make use of their civilian identities to help their cause and gain access to information that they wouldn’t have if they were always stuck in the Dark Kingdom. It was a logical argument although she was no fool and knew it was because the men had no wish to let go of the ties they had forged in this life. It cost her little except some aggravation to humor them, eventually when the Dark Kingdom triumphed, those identities would be obsolete.

Until then Beryl had to deal. It was another ten minutes before her general showed up. To her irritation, he was not dressed in his uniform but in blue jeans and a black t-shirt that proclaimed in white letters “Crystal City University”. He also had what appeared to be a heavy black backpack, which he slid the single shoulder strap that he used to carry it off and dropped on the bag on the floor, before bending down on one knee before her.

“You summoned, Queen Beryl.”

“Ten minutes ago, Jadeite,” she snarled, not withholding any of her displeasure. Just because she had agreed to this civilian nonsense didn’t mean she wouldn’t still give them hell for the irritations she had to put up.

“My sincerest apologies, my Queen,” Jadeite said lowering his head and looking at the ground. “I was in a class and there was no way for me leave without blowing my cover.”

‘Sure, there wasn’t,’ Beryl thought sarcastically, but kept the thought to herself for now.

“I want a report, Jadeite. What have you been doing in the name of the Dark Kingdom and our magnificent benefactress, Queen Metallia.”

“The others have taken the responsibility of analyzing this new Senshi and searching for clues in the tomes that we have about the Senshi to see if perhaps there was a predecessor of this Sailor Moon in the earlier days of the Silver Millennium. As of right now, she’s a wild card so we feel that the best way to deal with her is to gather as much information before we mount a proper counterattack.”

“Continue.”

“As for myself, I have been searching for a way to gather energy for Queen Metallia. At this moment, I believe the best source of energy on Earth to tap into is love. Humans, particularly human females, expend a great deal of energy when they are in love or believe themselves to be in love.”

“You don’t say,” Beryl commented, the sarcasm thick in her voice. As a woman, and woman of Earth at that, she felt she should be a little indignant at that comment. However, she couldn’t quite dispute the accuracy. Women did tend to get a little…. Well a little something when it came to love and men. “So do you have a plan to capture this energy, Jadeite?”

“Yes, my Queen,” Jadeite replied. “I’ve already dispatched my servant, Flau to set my plan in action to take advantage of this energy source. She merely awaits my command to begin.”

“Very well,” Beryl said. “Proceed.”

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Final Thought from Luna:
Serena… are you really sure he didn’t hear me speak?

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Author’s Note:
Thanks again to everyone who reviewed or added this story as a favorite or alert.

FF.net
rosesong.shadowclan • Jaylonni Love • Neanda • LoveInTheBattleField • PoisonIvy89

DGRFA
Eris Nyrea

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Disclaimer: I do not claim any rights to Sailor Moon or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Takeuchi Naoko and anyone else she says has rights to it.


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