Title: Secrets Part: Two By: Azurite Email: azurite_moon@yahoo.com WWW: www.geocities.com/sailor_andromida/ ML: www.onelist.com/community/sailorfic_review/ AIM: Meriellen5 THANK YOU!!: Mage, my wonderful pre-reader! Stuff: ~Past~ are things that happened in the past...*DUH* like when Serena was a kid. ~Present~ is obviously NOW, or when Serena is Sailor Moon, Rini is there, yadda yadda. And ~*~ and ********** are like scene changes. If the time changes, there'll be the ~Time~ thing. Okay? Okay. Disclaimer: YAY! I got the new Sailormoon Material Illustration book for Christmas... and the illustrations are fantastic! Oh yeah, I'm supposed to say I don't own Sailormoon. There, I said it. Notes: Thanks to all the people who wrote me about this fic, specifically Shade and Stara10651. Thanks! And of course, to my fav authors and onee-chan's, Jlala, Elysia and Sailor Peace. Oh and don't let me forget the other greats: Lady Starra, Alicia Blade, Lilac Summers, Amythest, MoonKlutz, Blue Ice, Violet Ice, Sailor Walnut, Stefanie(YOU GO GIRL!), and Nicole Cherre. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Recap: Darien was trying to forget about all the horrible things he was doing -to himself and Serena- by staying away from her. He ended up wandering into a graveyard, and who but SERENA did he see!? Darien discovers Serena's REAL parents were murdered by a Negaverse witch named Opal, but before he can find out more, Opal blasts Serena into a statue of Virgin Mary. Serena is knocked out, with a concussion, and it is Darien who brings her into the ER. Hours later, there is still no word on Serena, but Serena's family and the girls arrive. Rini, meanwhile, has learned that before Serena met the scouts, she was a secluded, lonely girl with a terrible past. She had also been adopted by the Tsukinos after her real family was killed, and the Tsukinos acted as her godparents. When Serena was finally allowed to have visitors, the girls rushed in and explained what THEY knew about the attack. Darien watched from the sidelines, and when the couple saw each other, Serena wasn't in the mood... he DID after all, save her, and now, he knows her secret! In the end, Serena was released from the hospital. Serena had to weave a web of lies to the dearest of her friends, to keep them safe from her past and Opal. But Rini and Darien both know the truth, and Raye has an inkling... Rini runs to Darien with the full story from Serena herself, and the chapter ends with Darien realizing that Serena isn't all she appears to be, and that HER deepest secret has come out. ***************************************************** ~Past~ Otome looked to Apollo eagerly. He finally opened his eyes and they sparkled with blue brilliance as he smiled. Otome privately blushed; only THAT smile could melt her heart. She brushed a blonde hair from her face and looked down at her small daughter in her lap. It was strange, how all this had come to be. Otome and Apollo had fallen in love with each other in their high school years, but both had been too stubborn to admit it. In fact, most thought they were enemies! It took a while, but a small group of both their friends set them up on a blind date. Instead of being rightousely shocked, disgusted and horrified, both people were delighted, and continued the dates. After two years of straight dating, courting and romancing, Apollo asked Otome to marry him. Several months later, Otome was told by her doctor that she was barren, and unable to give birth, a sad and shocking fact to the newlywed couple. But what came as even more shocking news was, that exactly seven months after that date, and over a year since the wedding, Otome was pronounced pregnant with a healthy baby girl! Otome and Apollo also found something out about each other: both had the abilities to foresee things, or have visions. Apollo's were always of battle, and hardship, while Otome's were of peace and love. Now, Otome was not her true name. No, she had changed it from her birth name several months after having her first vision when she was 16. Otome, being of Japanese descent, knew her new name meant 'maiden'. She had no idea, however, why her visions asked her to change her name to Otome, nor why they asked her to dye her silky black hair a bright shade of blonde. The unusual thing was, her hair STAYED blonde. She never needed to dye it again, and when her daughter Serena was born, she was astonished to find the child had blonde hair. It couldn't have been from her father; he too had dyed his hair blonde due to a vision, and he also had no need to dye it again. During the pregnancy, both the mother and the father had rather unusual visions. Otome had visions and dreams of a peaceful kingdom, a lovely queen and her husband, and their darling daughter. Apollo had a vision of how the queen's husband was killed, and how she still gave birth to, and raised her daughter, the Crown Princess Serenity, with grace and ease. The kingdom was one of magick, centered around a gem known as the Imperium Silver Crystal, an all-powerful stone that used energy from its White Moon Royalty user. The user had to be pure of mind and soul, and one of the White Moon family. Otome and Apollo realized that both their visions had a common link: Serenity, the Crown Princess as the White Moon's heir, was the main component! Though Otome saw the grief, love and peace of the kingdom, Apollo saw the hardship, the fall of the kingdom of peace, and the end of an era. Just as Otome's contractions began, they both came to the realization that their daughter must be the reborn Serenity! As believers in magick and lives of times since past, they pledged to each other to raise her as Serenity, the queen herself, would have, and to always protect their little princess. ************************************************* ~Present~ Darien comprehended the information in his head as slowly as it came. Serena... was adopted. Serena's parents... had been murdered... by Opal... because they were HER parents... Serena... didn't want anyone else to know. Serena... wanted to fight on her own. Darien had always been one to respect a person's wishes, especially Serena's but this...? He couldn't let her fight this Opal all by herself, even if Serena knew more about the woman and her weaknesses. "D-Darien?" Rini asked, drawing him out of his stupefication. He blinked twice and then looked at the child warily. It was getting darker, and it was time for Rini to be home... she DID after all, sneak out of the house late at night to see him. "Let's go... I'll take you home..." Darien whispered softly. He put his arm around the small girl, who seemed frightened and sad at the same time. He was drawn to her, strangely, and her touch procured visions similar to those in his dreams. Who was she? ******************************************************* Much later that night, when Rini was safely returned from Darien's apartment, she had a horrific dream. ~*~ The scouts were crumpled in a semi-circular heap in the middle of a burned field... blasted gravestones shot up from the singed, black grass in various spots, and the crackle of a fire from a weeping willow could be heard in the dead silence. A voice, very witchlike and echoing with the mystery of a dream, cackled out words much like a curse. "I told you, Serenity, that you couldn't hide from me forever! Now your friends are dead, and YOU will join them, with your parents... in hell!" 'Serenity? Who-' Rini was somehow in the sidelines, not choking from the stifling smoke, nor shivering from the strange, evil mist. Instead, she stood in a plane not of the world she looked upon... rather, she was omniscient, and unseen by the two female warriors battling it out on the burned field of death. Then Rini saw it. The mist parted to reveal Serena, and Rini was sure it was Serena by the glare she cast at the woman hovering above two broken gravestones, in a beautiful dress. From her back... two wings? "Mama..." Rini breathed in awe. But... it couldn't be, could it? ~*~ ********************************************************** ~Past~ Otome Taiyo cradled her small child, a miracle child, and a princess at that, in her arms. After 36 painful, lung-twisting hours of labor (she had almost broken Apollo's hand) she had brought small Serena Taiyo into the world. "Why Serena?" Nurse Kumada asked. Otome smiled as only a proud mother could. "She does look very serene, doesn't she?" 'And it WAS her unformal nickname back in the days of the Silver Millenium. Wasn't it, Serenity?' "True. She is one of the only babies I know who doesn't cry for at least 45 minutes." Nurse Kumada smiled adoringly. The child looked like an angel, with wisps of blonde hair crowning her small head and two eyes, which, for a very brief moment when Serena had been awake, had been sunny sky blue. "I suppose you'll want to feed her now, so I'll be going. Apollo, by the way, is sound asleep, still cradling that tender hand of his." Kumada and Otome laughed briefly before the nurse turned and left, smiling. Otome was about to feed Serena when the small girl opened her eyes, and blinked. She did not cry, or even pout. She just... blinked. For a moment, Otome was mesmerized, and wondered how such a small child could do that to her. "My baby... my sweet, sweet Serena." Otome cooed. The child giggled hapily, reaching a tiny hand out to her mother's outstretched finger. The woman's longer finger brushed away an unusually long wisp of hair from the girl's forehead, and in shock, she drew back. There, gleaming on the child's forhead as prominent as the sun in the summer sky, was a crescent moon sigil. "Serenity..." Otome breathed. ********************************************************** Serena, now aged two and three quarters, smiled happily at her mother. The woman smiled proudly as her only daughter thrust out her two front teeth... in her hand. "Oh, Serena!" Otome smiled happily and took the teeth from her daughter. But as soon as she had, the small girl began to wail hysterically. 'I THOUGHT she was supposed to be *serene*... this is what I get, isn't it? For having a SILENT baby when she was born? So she has to cry NOW! And I thought the BEGINNING of the terrible two's was bad!' "Mama...Mama... put 'em back Mama!" Serena crumbled to her knees and cried yet again, begging for her teeth back. She HATED the whistling noise she made when she talked, she hated the feeling of her gums and not her teeth aganist her tongue. She hated how it hurt when she brushed her teeth (or lack thereof) and how rotten it felt when she chewed. "Oh, Sere, hon, we can't put them back." Otome soothed, kneeling down next to her daughter and speaking gently. "Not even daddy, with his gwue?" Serena asked innocently, lisping because she had no front teeth. Otome rose and smiled broadly. She WAS as curious as a kitten. 'Heaven forbid she ever finds the magick book.' Otome thought. Over the past several years, Apollo and Otome had become more and more involved in their craft of visions, dreams and magick, and discovered an ancient book on the craft of the era they so often dreamed about. The arts of the Silver Millenium, in full detail, and scribed neatly in Japanese Kanji, and covered in a rustic, locked cover. It had taken some time to find they key, and even longer to find and persuade the antique bookshop owner to sell it. But after they paid him handsomely and worked hard on translating the Old Characters, they found out much more about their miracle daughter and the time she properly came from. "Look, Apollo, these illustrations..." Otome, holding a one-year old Serena, who was idly sucking her thumb, in her lap, pointed to a hand drawn picture of two castles, split by an elegant ruler line. "The Earth Kingdom, and the Moon Kingdom." Apollo translated slowly. "How terrible. Both of these majestic kingdoms were destroyed." "Not all of them. Much of the Earth Kingdom remains intact, as a closed museum, and the Moon Kingdom... well, you said in one of your visions, you saw a tower and a dried up lakebed." "It could have been moonrocks and a crater, though." Otome persisted, removing Serena's thumb from her small mouth. "Since when were you to think scientifically?" Apollo smiled wryly. Otome smiled back in knowing, and they turned the page. "The Prayer room..." Otome breathed quietly. Indeed, the illustration was of a magnificent tower, enclosed in crystal and engraved with the many sigils of the planets of the Silver Alliance. Surrounding the tower were four people: a young child with hair done in what was termed by the Taiyos as 'The Royal Hairstyle', a style where the hair was done up in two buns on either side of the woman's head, and flowed down in two ponytails, a teenage girl, their mother, and a more elderly figure, presumably the mother of the last woman. They all had the same royal hairstyle, and they all held hands around the tower. And at the top of the tower was a small crystal globe, in which a shining crystal glowed. "The Imperium Silver Crystal..." "No hon, not even Daddy with his glue." Otome smiled and proceeded to tell Serena the legend of the tooth fairy. ********************************************************************* The years flew by, but none too soon. The Taiyos moved to a nice area of Tokyo known as Juuban, and quickly became close friends to their neighbors Tsukinos. They were kind, caring and loving people who also had some problems having children. In fact, they were thinking of adopting. One day, when Serena was only three, Otome and Apollo shared a vision. They saw a dark shadow over their house, and in order to secure the future, to bring back the peace of the Silver Millenium era, they had to protect little Serena -Serenity. Two days later, they told Ilene and Ken Tsukino that they wanted Serena to be their godchild. "My goodness... Otome, why..." Ilene started breathlessly, placing a delicate hand on her own chest. Ken looked as equally surprised: this had never happened to them before. "We love you like you were our own family, and I know Serena does too." Otome smiled gratefully when Ilene nodded. "Thank you. You don't know how much this means to us." *********************************************************************** Ilene and Ken hardly minded that Serena started spending more and more time with them. The child in fact, started to neglect her studies with her parents, the ones that taught her of her past, the present, and HER future... "Serena, honey, time for your lesson!" Otome called. The bouncy ball of sunshine that was her miracle daughter, the Princess Serenity, came into the room, smiling. She had been told fairy tales since she was old enough to remember, and she was completely mesmerized when she found her parents -and her too- had the power to make those fairy tales come alive. At the stage she was in, Serena could have short trances, which, if prophetic, could make her fall asleep, and have vivid dreams, or she could tune into her powers from the moon, and focus a beam of energy from her hands or head, and use it to make anything more brilliant or beautiful. She had recently turned a seedling plant into a blossoming flower, and a withering rose into a scarlet bud, just blossoming. Serena had a fond attachment to flowers, roses especially, the stars and moon, or moreover, astrology and astronomy, and anyone ELSE'S health, well being, and status of lovelife. It could be embarassing at times, but when necessary, the supervising adults always sweatdropped and said "She's of that curious age... curious as a kitten..." ************************************************************ ~Present~ Rini wanted to run to Serena, but... 'It can't be, can't it?' Rini thought back... she didn't think Serena was Sailor Moon either, and yet she had seen the transformation with her own eyes. When she had finally come to terms with the fact, she returned the locket to Serena, only to realize the girl believed herself a burden, and she would sacrifice herself to save Rini. 'Serena was nice to me sometimes, but all those times I acted like a brat... I got what I deserved. Serena was always there to save me, and protect me... but...' ~*~ "Small Lady!" "RINI! Serena Small Lady Serenity!" Rini clutched the Imperium Crystal within her small, shivering hands, quiet for once. She awaited the moment when her mother would leave, and she could use the crystal on herself to prove that she WAS her mother's daughter, the Neo Crown Princess Serenity, and that she WAS a lady! Rini was breathless when she finally heard the door click shut and she started towards it, to go to her chambers and let the crystal work its magick on her. But she never got the chance. A strong gust of eerie wind blew at her, picking up the shards of glass and flinging them around the child in a furious hurricane. Rini dodged as many shards as she could, and gasped for air when she came out of the Crystal Room. She was being careful to hold the crystal, hidden securely in her hands, as she walked the dark, and, strangely abandoned halls. She was merely meters from her room when she heard a cry. "SMALL LADY?!" It was her mother indeed, but the tone was surprising. She... she was nowhere around. 'How can she see me?' Rini ran towards the sound of the voice, curious as to why her mother might be calling someone ELSE Small Lady. She saw the wide windows and the archways that opened into Crystal Tokyo, and she was horrified by what her childlike eyes beheld. Her mother approached a small girl, but stepped back when a strangely warped *humanoid* figure grabbed the child and choked her. The girl disentigrated into a charred corpse. From there on, it was too fast to comprehend. A... a blast from above, someone appearing -in the air- and... "MOMMY!!!" Rini screamed. The person who had been in the air teleported away, and dark blasts of energy began to hurl themselves around the city, destroying the majestic, peaceful place and killing or warping the minds of billions. The four Guardian Scouts were suddenly on the scene, and as they appeared, they froze the queen's body in a protective shell of crystal... quartz. They started to attack the enemy ships now appearing, but they were severely outnumbered. They teleported with the crystal- encased queen back into the palace, and away from the battle scene. In hysterics, Rini ran, terrified, to her chambers. Within ten minutes, Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars had come to take her away. Soon, all four guardians were with her, and they ran though the fray to places unknown... Rini was too scared, too -guilty, almost- to say anything, and the scouts just took it as fear of not knowing what happened. But Rini did HEAR glips of the conversation... "We gotta get Rini outta here!" "We have to protect her!" "We'll have to get back to the Crystal Palace and see if we can awake Neo Queen Serenity!" "I sure wish Sailor Moon was here..." "Jupiter..." 'Sailor Moon? But... Daddy told me she was just a legend! But if Jupiter says she's real... but what does she mean by 'not here'? I thought ALL the scouts were here! And... how come there's a Guardian Scout of the Moon? I thought Mama and I were the Guardian Rulers of the moon! And Mercury sounded sad... I wonder what happened to Sailor Moon...' Rini's train of thoughts was abruptly interrupted as a blast headed dead center for them. The four girls slpit up, leaving Rini to run off on her own. She ran all the way back to the crystal palace, and to the only safe haven she knew of -the gates of time, where her best friend, Pluto, guarded. She begged Pluto to let her go back in time, correct her errors. Pluto told her she would have to enlist the help of Sailor Moon from the past, and find the 20th century carrier of the Imperium Silver Crystal in order to save her mother. Rini didn't understand it all, but she did as she was told. She took one of Pluto's time keys, her Luna-P ball, the communications robot toy Mercury had designed for her that allowed her to talk to both Luna and Sailor Pluto, and her knowledge of the invincible Sailor Moon. ~*~ 'The crystal of the future... I never saw it after that day I went through the Time Warp. I wonder what happened to it. Oh, mommy! Serena can use the crystal. Serena is Sailor Moon, the guardian of the moon, and... my mommy?' *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* End of Part Two Confusing, ne? Email: azurite_moon@yahoo.com