"What the hell is that?  What's going on?"

"Help us!  Brace me, hold on to me!"

"I'm okay!  I... I just...."

"Grab my hand!"

"I'm trying... argh...."

"Don't let go!  Don't you dare let go!"

"It can't get me, whatever it is!  I won't...."

"The beam is about to break!  Push off, jump, do something, quick!"

"Whaddya think I've been trying to do!  I almost...."

*CRACK*

"Oh my God...."

"NO!"



Out of Sync

by Richard Lawson

Comments and Criticism Welcome!
sterman@sprynet.com


Jadeite was dead.  

He found it terribly inconvenient.

Queen Beryl had banished him to this world between worlds, his body encased, 
never to be freed.  He had been so close to victory, had gained valuable 
information, and she had destroyed him out of pique, because he could not 
provide her the energy she needed at a fast enough rate.  She had forgotten the 
painful lessons they'd all learned a millenium ago.  And was therefore doomed to 
repeat her mistakes.

But even in death, in this nether dimension between dimensions, Jadeite was 
still the First General.  This was not defeat, just a setback.  He gathered his 
power and waited.

Soon, other of Beryl's troops began passing through, suffering defeat after 
defeat from the Sailor Scouts.  He absorbed their essence into his own, learning 
from them what had happened, finding a perverse pleasure in Beryl's continual 
defeats.  And then Generals began joining the ranks of the defeated, and he 
absorbed them as well, for they were weak when they arrived, and in no condition 
to withstand his power.  He learned from them about the discovery of more 
Warriors - more Sailor Scouts.   And, more importantly, he learned of the return 
of the Imperium Silver Crystal.  How the Crystal had fallen into the hands of 
the Sailor Scouts - more specifically, Sailor Moon, who had been revealed to be 
the reincarnation of Serenity's daughter.  The corruption of Tuxedo Mask, who 
turned out to be the Prince of the Earth come back to life.  The battles had 
continued, but now Beryl was desperate, and attacked recklessly.

And then, the prize of prizes had come to Jadeite: Beryl herself, passing 
through on her way back to the Negaverse, having been defeated by the Moon 
Princess and her Crystal.  Jadeite intercepted her, offered her his obeisance as 
was her due, and then absorbed her power.  The fight had been an epic one, for 
even as weakened as she was, Beryl was a formidable opponent.  But her will had 
been broken in the fight with the Moon Princess, and Jadeite's will had only 
grown stronger.  He defeated her, and absorbed her power, and learned joyful 
things.  The Sailor Scouts had been defeated - killed except for the Moon 
Princess.  And surely the Princess herself would be wearied and saddened by the 
high cost of her victory.

She was ready to be taken.  Jadeite would see that she was.

There were still significant problems.  For all the power he had, he was still 
trapped.  He had to break out of his prison.  Fortunately, Beryl had powers he 
had never suspected, and he used them to test the barriers.  He bent them, 
prodded them.

Broke them.

A maelstrom of dimensional energy erupted, and he spent some time bringing it 
under control.  Finally, he looked at what he had: a rip in the dimensions, 
enough for him to travel through.

And yet, he couldn't.  When he tried to leave, he found that his control 
slipped.  The energies began to rage again, and he had to concentrate to contain 
them again.  Frustration nibbled at the edge of his control; he was still 
trapped.

He thought the problem through, using all of the knowledge he and the others 
he'd absorbed had acquired.  He needed something that would bind the energies 
and hold them in place while he passed through the rip.  And the only thing that 
might accomplish that was the Imperium Silver Crystal.

Yet it was out there, and he was in here.  He needed to bring it to him.

He experimented some more, trying to find what he could do with the rip.  He 
found he could use it to see what transpired in the dimension beyond.  What he 
found angered him.

The Warriors were alive.  Somehow, they had passed through death and emerged 
more powerful than before.  He watched as they fought a pair of aliens in 
battles very similar to the ones they had waged against Beryl's troops.  As he 
watched, they beat back the aliens and drove them off.  The details of their 
victory he found uninteresting - only that the aliens could have won if they had 
planned better.  

That would have saved him a lot of trouble.

Still, he had a window of opportunity.  The Sailor Scouts had relaxed in 
victory.  They were open, and he would take them.

He stopped and considered.  He was being irrational; there was no need for him 
to kill all of the Scouts.  Without the Moon Princess and the Imperium Silver 
Crystal, the rest were merely cattle, to be slaughtered at his convenience.  
They'd been beaten before, and they could be beaten again.

So he concentrated his efforts on bringing the Moon Princess to him.  He took 
his time, learning how to control the dimensional energies, casting far and wide 
to discover the extent of his power.  

Finally, he was ready.

---

Serena stared at the clock.  Three minutes to go.  Two minutes and forty-five 
seconds.  The second hand was taking *forever* to move.  Two minutes and thirty 
seconds.

An eternity later, the bell rang.  Serena sprang from her desk with enthusiasm 
inversely proportional to when she had sat at it.  She ignored Ami's amused and 
understanding smile and ran from the classroom.

She flew home, nearly running over her mother while flying up the steps.  She 
dropped her bookbag and practically tore her school clothes off.  She threw on 
the clothes she had carefully arranged for herself last night.  She looked at 
herself in the mirror, and decided that she looked as gorgeous as ever.  She 
giggled at her conceit, and turned to leave.

"Serena."  Luna raised her head from where she was curled up at the foot of the 
bed.  "Don't forget the Crystal."

Serena frowned at the locket attached to the front of her school uniform.  "I 
don't need it, you silly cat!  Everyone's gone, there's no one left to fight.  
We won!"  That was a slight exaggeration, Serena knew, but sufficient for the 
purposes of this argument.  "I don't have to be Sailor Moon ever again!"

"Don't be so sure of that, Serena."  Luna got up on all fours and arched her 
back before sitting and looking evenly at Serena.  "There may yet be more evil 
waiting for you to let your guard down.  As a Sailor Scout, and especially as 
the Princess, you must remain alert at all times."

Serena scowled at her.  She wanted to be through with the locket and the Crystal 
and being the Moon Princess (who would want to be the Princess of a dusty gray 
hunk of rock anyway?) and especially Sailor Moon.  She never had enjoyed a 
single minute of being Sailor Moon.  She spent a lot of that time scared out of 
her mind.

But it was necessary.  She knew that.  Seeing people get hurt seemed to hurt her 
just as bad.  She just *had* to stop it, no matter what it cost her.  Why that 
would be, she didn't know.  Ami called it 'noblesse oblige'.  Serena called it a 
royal pain.

Serena sniffed angrily, grabbed the locket from her uniform, and stuffed it into 
a pocket of her skirt.  She whirled before Luna could think of anything else to 
scold her about and ran out of the house.

The park was not far away, and she reached it well before the appointed time.  
She did a little dance of frustration; couldn't time pass quickly when she 
wanted it to?  Too bad the Crystal couldn't do *that*.  She amused herself by 
thinking of what she could call the power.  Moon Clock Advance!  Impatient 
Princess Exhortation!

And then, in the distance, she saw him coming.

He had this way of walking, with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his 
face, that made her heart lurch.  She squealed and ran towards him, her arms 
wide.  He laughed, took his hands out of his pockets, and caught her as she 
jumped at his chest.

She squeezed him tightly, feeling his arms go around her back and loving the 
sensation.  She smiled and tried her best to scold him.  "Where have you been, 
Darien?"

He chuckled.  "I'm ten minutes early, Serena.  I know that you hate to wait, so 
I tried to get here before you did.  What did you do, skip school?"

"No!"  She released him and stepped back, frowning at him.  "I'd never do that!"

"I'm sorry."  His smiled his apology, and Serena found that she couldn't 
maintain any of her irritation when he did that.  "You wanted to see the flowers 
blooming, didn't you?"

Serena nodded eagerly.  She wrapped herself around his arm as they made their 
way around the lake in the center of the park to the small flower garden beyond.

They walked slowly, enjoying each other's company.  Serena exulted in it.  No 
longer was there any confusion.  He was Tuxedo Mask, and the former Prince of 
the Earth.  She was Sailor Moon, and the former Moon Princess.  They knew each 
other in all of their respective guises.  Nothing blocked their memories any 
more; nothing kept them from knowing that they had once been engaged, a thousand 
years ago.  They were fated to be together again, and there was nothing to keep 
them from realizing that destiny.

None of that really mattered to her.  All that *did* matter was that she was 
Serena, and he was Darien, and they loved each other.  Everything else was 
unimportant.  She didn't care about past lives, about a romantic fairy tale that 
ended tragically.  She just wanted to spend time with her boyfriend.

They stopped in front of a rose bush.  Roses only bloomed for a short period, so 
they had to be viewed at just the right time of the year.  This set of roses 
were yellow, and magnificent.  Serena sighed at their beauty.

Darien spoke softly, with a rhythm that took Serena a moment to realize he was 
quoting something:

"But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd, 
 Than that which withering on the virgin thorn
 Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness."

Serena tried to puzzle it out, wishing Ami was here to translate it for her.  
"Is that what I am, Darien?  A thorny rose?"

"The analogy does seem appropriate in many ways."  Darien was teasing her, but 
she could hear the love in his teasing, so she didn't take offense to it.

Not a lot, anyway.  "Well, buster, keep it up and we'll see how much you like 
dying in 'single blessedness'."

Darien laughed.  "Touch�."  He turned to look into her face.

Serena turned with him, looking up at him, studying his face.  Interesting that 
he would mention a 'virgin thorn'.  She studied his lips, wondering what they 
tasted like.  She wanted to find out.  After all, she did want to have children 
someday, and they didn't just fall out of the sky.  She'd need to learn how to 
make them herself, and she knew the process started when you found someone you 
loved and proceeded from there.

She wanted to proceed just a little bit.  She lifted her chin so that her lips 
were pointed at his.  She watched his expression go from surprise to fear to 
nervousness.  He licked his lips, and Serena exulted.  He was going to do it.

He bent his head down a little bit, positioning it.  Suddenly, he frowned and 
stared at the ground underneath them.  Serena furrowed her brow; couldn't he 
concentrate on the task as hand?  This was no time for distractions.  Annoyed, 
she looked down to see what he found that was more interesting than she was.

The ground was missing.

She blinked, but the ground refused to appear.  They appeared to be standing on 
top of a dark hole that disappeared into a violent swirling of dark clouds.  She 
looked up at Darien and shared a look of shock with him.  He grabbed her and she 
could feel him gathering himself to leap away, but it was too late.  The last of 
the ground's reality faded and they fell into the darkness.

Serena's last thought as the roses passed from view was that, all in all, she 
would have enjoyed having a chance to be distill'd.

---

It wasn't working.

Jadeite felt his frustration growing.  He wanted to bring the Moon Princess to 
him, but he couldn't.  She was bound too tightly to those around her.  They held 
her in her reality, and wouldn't let her go.

He couldn't let this chance go.  If he failed this time, she would be on guard 
for the next and he might never succeed.  His only choice was to bring the 
others with her.  And he had to do it quickly; already she was realizing that 
she was under attack, and soon he'd lose her.

One of those who bound her was already with her.  The others were scattered, but 
still nearby.  He opened doors to all of them, and grabbed them as one entity 
through the barrier.  They still had ties to people on Earth, but those were 
easy to break, as long as they passed through together.

The effort was successful, but took a lot out of him.  He lost control of the 
dimensional energies, and they swirled again, hurling the people he had brought 
far away.

They brought reality with them, and the dimensional energies began to form a 
world for them.  Jadeite frowned and wrestled for control of the energies.  But 
it was too much, he had used too much of himself to bring them here.  And, as 
much as it pained him to admit, they were too strong, their unconscious desire 
for physical form overpowering his attempts to keep them discorporeal.  He did 
control enough of the energies to shape the world more to his liking.

Finally, he calmed the storm of dimensional energies.  He reassessed the 
situation.  The Moon Princess had unknowingly won the first skirmish; she had 
ensured that all future battles would be physical ones.  Also, she and the 
others would likely be able to overcome him.  He had been weakened considerably 
in the effort to bring them over.  He could rebuild his energies if given time, 
but they would likely seek him out and destroy him before he could be sure of 
victory.

He needed to deprive the Moon Princess of her guards.  When they were disposed 
of, then he could wrest the Imperium Silver Crystal from her and escape his 
prison.

He reached through the barriers again, this time to the dimension of the 
Negaverse.  Here he found his minions, in ready numbers, not bound to anything 
in particular.  He brought one through.  He couldn't bring it completely through 
- he was still very weak - but enough came through to be useful.  Satisfied, he 
brought another, and another, and then they came flooding in.  He was a little 
sloppy in his control of the dimensional energies - he didn't have the time or 
the energy to be precise - but he didn't mind.  Just so long as enough of his 
troops arrived.  He began positioning them, setting some up as his guards and 
others as his attack squads.  He sent them out; the world he and the Sailor 
Scouts had created was small, and it would not take him long to find them.  The 
other Scouts would fall one by one, as would that annoying Tuxedo Mask.

As it had with Beryl, it would come down to confrontation between him and the 
Moon Princess.  And unlike Beryl, he was going to succeed.

---

Serena put her hand to her head, trying to clear it of a pain unlike any she had 
experienced before.  She had felt herself fly apart, her body disintegrating 
into its component atoms.  Somehow, sheer panic had brought her back together 
again.  She had wanted a body, wanted it very badly, and something had responded 
and given it back to her.

She frowned suddenly.  It hadn't been just her.  Other people, too, had helped 
her create a body for herself.  She'd helped them recreate their own bodies as 
well.  It was all very confusing, and the memories of her time spent struggling 
back to reality faded like dreams in the morning.  Still, she remembered enough 
not to be surprised when she looked around and saw that she and Darien were not 
alone.

Ami was on her hands and knees, breathing heavily.  Lita had her arms around 
Mina's shoulders, evidently trying to cajole her back to awareness.  Darien was 
already on his feet, looking around.  Raye was lying flat on her back, staring 
up.  Even as Serena began to wonder if she was all right, she suddenly sat up 
and looked over at Serena.

Serena sighed in relief, thankful that everyone was alive and apparently well.  
She gave Raye a reassuring smile.  Raye smiled back before remembering to scowl.  
"Where are we?  Did you bring us here?"

"*I* didn't do it!"  Serena looked around, for the first time wondering where 
they were.

Her first impression was that she was inside a giant shell.  The walls were 
curved and arched.  They were a dull green color, and were slightly translucent.  
Light seemed to emanate from all around them, but it was bright enough to see 
by.  The room was very small, and seemed to be nothing more than a junction of 
two hallways.  Looking down one hallway, Serena could see several other 
junctions in the distance, but nothing that looked like a door.

She stood up and walked over to Darien.  He was intently studying each of the 
hallways in turn.  Serena took a quick glance and saw that they all seemed to be 
the same.

"What happened?"  Ami was also on her feet and pulling Raye to hers.  "I was in 
the library, and then I was... somewhere else.  And then here."

"Something grabbed me."  Lita and Mina stood together, and Lita continued.  "I 
mean, well, I was walking home, and it seemed as if something black just 
appeared in front of me and surrounded me.  It happened so *fast*."

"That's what happened to me."  Mina squeezed Lita's arm in appreciation, the 
shook herself free.  "Does anyone know where we are?"

Serena looked around as everyone shook their heads.  Ami reached into the pocket 
of her school uniform and pulled out her computer.  She began tapping at it.

"There's evil here."  Raye shuddered and looked around fiercely, as if daring it 
to manifest.  "It's powerful, and it hates us."

"I feel something... threatening."  Darien finally gave up his examination of 
the halls and looked down at Serena.  "You're in danger.  I don't know what, or 
from where, but something is coming to get you."

Serena slowly nodded.  Darien always showed up right when she needed him the 
most, guided by some instinct that told him when and where to go.  If he thought 
she was going to be attacked, he was almost certainly right.

"We should change.  Right now."  Mina's voice, usually bubbly and friendly, had 
acquired a deadly serious tone.  While Serena and Raye might sometimes squabble 
over which one of them was in charge, Mina was the one who quietly directed the 
combat.  She'd fought many battles before the rest of them had been Sailor 
Scouts, and everyone respected her experience and listened to her.

Everyone nodded.  Serena reached into her pocket, silently thanking Luna for her 
watchful diligence.  She opened up the locket and tapped the Imperium Silver 
Crystal, speaking the words that triggered her transformation.  She heard the 
others crying out their transformation phrases as well.  Then the magic swirled 
around her, changing her clothes and filling her with its essence.  The change 
always filled her with joy, even at the most dire of times.  She felt more 
alive, if somewhat less... human.  Magic was a wonderful thing, but it also made 
her feel a little removed from the rest of the human race.  There were times, 
many times, when she preferred being a teenager to being a super-powered 
defender of love and justice.

She finished transforming and quickly looked around.  Everyone else was 
finishing up, and Ami was in fact back at work on her computer, absently 
touching her headband so that her visor formed.

Serena looked at Darien, to see that he already had his tuxedo and mask on and 
was watching them silently.  Sometimes she envied the fact that he could simply 
change back and forth without the theatrics.

She looked around again.  The magic gave her heightened senses and greater 
physical ability.  It didn't help; the hallways seemed as empty and endless as 
before.

She walked up to Ami - Sailor Mercury, as she should call her now.  Serena 
always tried to change her mindset when she and her friends transformed.  Sailor 
Mercury could do more things than Ami could, and it was important for Serena to 
remember that.  "What have you found out?"

Sailor Mercury's brow was furrowed deeply.  "It's hard to say where we are.  I 
know we're not on Earth.  We seem to be in a rather large, hexagonal building, 
about forty kilometers in diameter.  I can't scan past the perimeter of the 
building.  There's something in the center, but exactly what I can't figure out.  
We're about ten kilometers away."  She shook her head and continued to tap away 
at the computer.

Everyone waited for her to continue.  Finally, Sailor Venus prodded gently, 
"What else?"

Sailor Mercury sighed in frustration.  "There's a lot of strange activity, but I 
can't make it out or understand it.  It started at the center and is spreading 
out."

Sailor Mars whirled around, looking into the hallways.  "How long until it gets 
here?"

"Well, if the rate of expansion is constant, I'd say about thirty minutes.  
However, if the rate of expansion is dependent upon the area being covered, than 
it will slow progressively the closer to the perimeter it gets, and then it may 
be as long thirteen or fifteen hours."

Serena relaxed marginally at the news.  "So we have some time."

"Maybe."  Sailor Mercury sounded doubtful.  "This activity is sporadic.  Pockets 
of it are springing up all over at random places."

"Look!"  Sailor Jupiter pointed down one of the hallways.

Serena turned to look.  Reality seemed to be wavering like a pool of water at a 
junction not far from theirs.  It darkened, and something fell through.  Reality 
reasserted itself again.

What it had left behind resembled nothing more than a black oval and a two 
meters wide.  The edges of the oval were indefinite; Serena had trouble figuring 
out where they were exactly.

The oval elongated, seeming to stand upright.  Serena could *almost* see a shape 
in the center of the blackness, but nothing would come into focus.  The fuzzy 
black shape began moving towards them.

Sailor Venus's voice snapped Serena out of her fascinated stupor.  "Everyone, 
line up facing the creature.  Tuxedo Mask, cover our backs and watch for 
anything else that approaches.  Stand ready."

Everyone complied.  Serena felt for her scepter, and it appeared in her hand.  
She felt her confidence surging.  Whatever it was, it couldn't withstand the 
five of them standing together.

It was approaching more rapidly.  As it approached, something akin to black 
lightning leapt from it, and Sailor Jupiter had to dive out of its way.

That was all the other Scouts needed to see.  Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars 
attacked almost simultaneously.  Their attacks hit the creature simultaneously.  
The shape stopped moving, then seemed to fall to the ground.  It remained there 
for a minute before fading away.

Serena sighed and let her scepter disappear.  "That was easy.  What was it?"

Sailor Mercury had kept her visor down the whole time.  "I... I think it was a 
youma."

"One of Beryl's minions?"  Sailor Mars frowned.  "It didn't look like one."

"It... it wasn't quite *there*."  Sailor Mercury stared at whatever her visor 
was showing her for a moment.  "It was... out of phase.  Not quite in sync with 
reality.  Or at least, not in sync with the reality we're in right now."

Sailor Venus nodded thoughtfully.  "That strange activity you said you were 
monitoring... could it be more of these out-of-phase youmas?"

"Quite possibly."  Sailor Mercury had let her computer disappear when preparing 
for battle, but now she materialized it again and tapped at it for a couple of 
moments.  "If that's correct, then I'm reading about three thousand seven 
hundred fifty youmas in the building.  And growing."

Silence greeted Mercury's statement.  Serena felt something cold settle into her 
stomach.  Five Sailor Scouts against one youma was no contest.  Five against 
thousands was also no contest.  "What can we do?"

"We have to stop what's generating them."  Tuxedo Mask spoke decisively, like he 
usually did.  "Go to the center, take out whatever's controlling them, send them 
back to wherever they came from and get ourselves out of here."

Sailor Venus nodded.  "We have some advantages.  If Sailor Mercury's right, 
they're spreading themselves out trying to get to us.  And if all of the 
hallways are like this, then only about fifteen or twenty of them can come at us 
at once."

Sailor Mars looked at her incredulously.  "*Only* fifteen or twenty?"

Sailor Venus shrugged.  "Better than a hundred.  We'll have to work together."  
She turned to Tuxedo Mask.  "We'll need your help."

He nodded.  "Of course."

"If I'm reading this correctly, there are about a thousand youma surrounding the 
central complex."  Ami tapped a couple of keys.  "The rest are moving out in 
organized search patterns, evidently looking for something.  Us, I'd imagine."

Venus looked down the hallway the creature had come from.  "Any coming our way?"

"Nothing coming directly at us, but they will reach us, eventually.  I'm  
projecting they'll find us in about six hours if we remain here.  If we wanted 
to, we could probably evade their search pattern almost indefinitely; it depends 
on if they have anything to scan with other than their eyes."

"I don't think we should do that."  Sailor Mars rubbed her arms.  "The evil will 
only get stronger."

Sailor Venus glanced at Sailor Mars and nodded.  "I agree.  Do you think you can 
get us to the center while avoiding their search parties?"

"I can get us by the search parties, I think, but remember that the center is 
surrounded.  We'll be able to get within about half a kilometer before detection 
is unavoidable."

Jupiter made a fist and held it in front of her.  "So we get as close as we can, 
then we let 'em have it!  We reach the center and take care of whoever's in 
there, stuff the youma back where they belong, and go home!"

Everyone looked at each other, hoping for a better plan.  When none was 
forthcoming, Sailor Venus sighed.  "I guess that's the best we can do for now.  
Let's get as close as we can, try to do from scouting, and maybe rethink our 
plan then."

Serena felt a little relief at Sailor Venus's caution.  Jupiter's plan sounded 
like a good way for everyone to get killed.

Tuxedo Mask's hand on her shoulder nearly caused Serena to shriek.  "Then let's 
not stand around.  The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we'll all be out of 
danger."

Serena almost laughed.  Everyone knew that what he meant was, "...the sooner 
Serena will be out of danger."  Serena was thankful that everyone liked Tuxedo 
Mask so much, and was willing to forgive his single-minded obsession with her 
well-being.

Sailor Mercury pointed down a hallway, and they followed her.  Serena bit her 
lip as she moved with them, fearing that nothing would get resolved that easily.

---

Serena leaned against the wall, resting while Sailor Mercury scanned the 
hallways.  They'd been moving for two hours now.  One of the advantages to her 
Sailor Moon form was that she had almost endless supplies of energy.  She never 
got thirsty or hungry, didn't need sleep, and was unaffected by extremes of 
temperature.  She could still get hot or cold, but it wasn't life-threatening.

The reason she was tired was the continual stress.  They'd had four more 
skirmishes with other youma that had appeared before Sailor Mercury could 
move to avoid them.  The youma had different powers, and determining their 
method of attack was difficult given their out-of-phase existence.  The last one 
had materialized almost directly in their midst and had been very tough, 
attacking both physically and with a beam weapon of some sort.  Sailor Mars had 
been hit before the rest of the Sailor Scouts could overcome it.  She had 
shrugged off the attack and insisted that she was alright, but she couldn't 
quite hide the tightening of her eyes that indicated she was in pain.  Serena 
guessed that she'd broken a rib.  She'd heal very rapidly in her Sailor Mars 
form, but she'd still feel it for some time.

The fear of being discovered by the search squads punctuated by the sheer terror 
of the unexpected attacks was wearing down her resolve.  Serena shook herself 
mentally; she could not afford the luxury of hysteria.  If they were to get out 
of this, she needed to remain focused and alert as much as possible.

Tuxedo Mask walked up to her and touched her arm.  "How are you holding up, 
Sailor Moon?"

She smiled at him, touched as always by his concern.  "I'm okay."

Sailor Mercury looked up.  "We're getting closer to the center.  There are 
search parties all around us.  We'll need to move as silently as possible."  She 
pointed down a hallway.  "This way."

Everyone nodded their understanding.  The moved down the indicated hallway, 
reached a junction and turned, reached another junction and turned again.  At 
the next junction, Sailor Mercury frowned at her computer and had them backtrack 
to the previous junction.  There she paused, then indicated to everyone else 
that they should huddle up.

"We need to wait here for a moment," she whispered.  "I don't want any of the 
search parties to have any kind of line-of-sight on us.  Two search parties are 
relatively close by.  We'll let them move away before we continue."

Sailor Jupiter hissed and pointed at a corner of the junction.  Serena followed 
her finger and her heart sank.  The corner was beginning to ripple, indicating 
that something was about to fall through.

Serena's soft groan was echoed by most everyone.  Sailor Venus grimaced and 
whispered quickly and urgently.  "Everyone surround it.  Jupiter and I will 
blast it as soon as it comes through.  Mars, Mercury, stand ready.  Moon, Mask, 
watch for those search parties."

They nodded and quickly moved into position.  Serena placed herself where she 
could see down two of the hallways.  Tuxedo Mask stood at her back.  She could 
also see the other Scouts standing ready to greet the new arrival.

Like the others, it appeared as an indefinite blob dropping out of the ripples 
of reality.  It hit the ground, and Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter attacked, 
keeping their battles cries as quiet as possible.

The shape leapt aside as the attacks struck.  It bounced off a wall and leapt 
over their shoulders.  This one was as fuzzy and indefinite as the others, but 
it seemed smaller.  And it was quick and agile.

Sailor Mercury whirled around and launched her attack.  Serena knew even as she 
did that it wouldn't work; it froze the target in place, but also required that 
the target remain relatively still for a second.  This shape moved too quickly.  
It bounced to the side, then leapt at Mercury.  She could do no more than cry 
out before the shape struck her and sent her flying.

Sailor Mars had launched a fireball, but the shape seemed to feel the attack 
coming.  It leapt straight up - it seemed to like bouncing around a lot - then 
twisted in the air to come down right at Sailor Jupiter.

Jupiter spread her arms out and attempted to grapple the shape as it reached 
her.  It somehow struck her in the chin - it was hard to tell if it had hands 
and legs, but it seemed to - then broke free of her grasp, grabbed her arm, and 
sent her crashing into the wall.

It left itself open for just a second during its throw, and Sailor Venus took 
advantage.  She managed to strike it with her attack.  The shape became slightly 
smaller and wider; Serena imagined that it had fallen to its knees.  Sailor Mars 
sent another fireball at it, but it rolled to the side, then began to move 
towards Serena.

Serena gasped and materialized her scepter, knowing that she didn't have enough 
time to build up the energy for an attack.  At the same time, a rose was thrown 
from behind her towards the creature.  It seemed to grab the rose out of the 
air, then immediately slowed and dropped the rose.  Serena smiled; the creature 
evidently didn't know about virgin thorns.

Sailor Jupiter's lightning was again avoided by the creature, as was Sailor 
Venus's meteor shower.  The attacks were getting closer to landing, and the 
Scouts pressed the attack.  A rose attack followed on the heels of a fireball.  
Lightning and meteors rained from above.  The creature seemed to have the 
devil's own luck, and somehow leapt through and around the attacks.  But it was 
only a matter of time.  Serena watched for her opening; very few things could 
withstand her scepter.  Once the other scouts had it cornered, she could put it 
away.

"Look out!"  Sailor Mercury was still lying on the floor, trying to recover her 
breath from the creature's attack.  She pointed down a hallway.

Serena looked down the hallway, and her heart sank.  About fifty black shapes 
were moving rapidly toward them.  The fight had taken too long and made too much 
noise.  They'd been discovered.

Serena immediately began building an attack.  She spun around, gathering her 
magic, then let it fly with a cry at the mass of attackers.  One by one, the 
attackers winked out of existence as her beam touched them.  She was able to 
pick off quite a few before the rest flooded into the junction.

Sailor Mercury instantly created a thick fog, hoping to confuse the attackers.  
Everyone began attacking in earnest, and Serena could see the dark shapes fall 
one by one.  She couldn't do much under these conditions; her scepter could 
easily strike one of the other Scouts or Tuxedo Mask in the crowded, foggy mess.

She turned to see what had happened to the original attacker.  It was moving 
away, down one of the hallways, away from the battle.  Serena's face hardened.  
This was something she could take care of.  She ran down the hallway after it.  
It was not going to get away and warn other search parties about them.

The creature began to move quickly away.  She kept up with it, moving through a 
junction, down a hallway, to another junction and down another hallway.  It 
moved fast, but Serena was gaining on it.

After another couple of junctions, it stopped.  Serena stopped about ten meters 
away.  She smiled; this would be easy.  She could stay safely away and blast it.  
She brought up her scepter and began to gather her energy again.

Something erupted from the creature.  A ball of energy flew from it and struck 
Serena in the chest.  She stopped twirling and dropped the scepter as the 
creature's energy washed over her and stunned her.  She thought numbly of the 
mistake she had made in assuming that the creature had no energy attacks.  She 
could almost hear Luna lecturing her: just because the creature hadn't used such 
attacks earlier didn't mean it didn't have any.

The creature's energy did something curious to her as she began to black out.  
For a moment, she was in sync with the creature and saw it come into focus.  She 
was mildly surprised by its form.  It looked very much like a boy, a teenager 
not much older than she was.  It had long, dark hair that it kept bound in a 
braid.  It wore a red, silk, Chinese-style shirt and black pants.  Despite the 
pain and anger on its face, it looked fairly handsome.  Not as handsome as 
Darien, of course.  No one was as handsome as Darien.

As she slid into unconsciousness, she apologized to Darien and reassured him 
that she would never toss him aside for a youma.  No matter how cute it was.

---

Ranma Saotome sucked the cut on his hand.  He was having a very bad day.

It had started like any other day, with a fight at breakfast, arguing on the way 
to school, and strained silence on the way back from school.  He'd gone to the 
dojo to work out, as always finding that the best way to work off the strange 
feelings Akane evoked in him was to beat up on something.

And then something strange had happened.  As he bounced from wall to wall in the 
dojo, it had begun to shake.  At first he thought it was another earthquake; 
then the ceiling had been ripped away.  A black hole hung over the dojo, drawing 
everything into its maw.

Ranma had tried to avoid being sucked into the hole.  Akane and Nabiki had tried 
to reach him from the edges of the dojo, but he hadn't been able to reach them.  
The support beam he'd been clinging to had given way, and the last thing he'd 
seen was Akane's horrified face.

As he entered the hole, the beam he was still holding dissolved.  He was fairly 
certain that he had dissolved with it.  Somehow, he had willed himself back to 
existence.  The experience had been very frightening.

He'd landed in this strange world, where everything was out of focus.  The 
walls, the floors, the objects - they were all black and fuzzy, indistinct.  He 
knew the floor was solid because he had landed on it, but even then he couldn't 
say for certain that he knew precisely where it was.

The 'objects' had turned out to be creatures of some kind.  They had attacked 
him immediately, before he could come to grips with what had happened to him.  
He instinctively avoided the attack, mentally thanking all the people like Ryoga 
and Shampoo who had made assaults out of the blue seem commonplace.  He'd 
sidestepped the strange black energy attacks and managed to get in a few good 
blows himself.

Then he'd gotten sloppy.  It was so hard to fight people when he couldn't see 
where their bodies began; when one of the bodies had presented obvious arms, 
he'd used them to throw it aside.  The throw was slow and cumbersome, and one of 
the creatures had taken advantage of the opening he'd left.  The energy had 
struck him, hard.  His innate chi had managed to absorb a lot of the attack, but 
he still had sore ribs.

The pain had slowed him, no matter how much he'd tried to ignore it.  The 
creatures had begun closing in, and Ranma had known that he was about to lose.

Deliverance had come from an unexpected source.  Another strange set of 
creatures had run into the room.  He'd almost cried in happiness at their 
appearance; they were in focus.  He could *see* them.  Unfortunately, what he 
could see was not very reassuring.  They were monstrous, distorted humanoid 
figures, shouting in rage.  They looked like demons from hell.  They had 
attacked the indistinct creatures with a will.

The indistinct creatures had immediately turned to meet the demons' attack.  
Something hazy had filled the room, further clouding his vision.  From his 
perspective, it looked as if the indistinct shapes were winning despite being 
outnumbered five to one.  He had wondered whether to come to the demons' aid, 
but decided that he didn't quite believe the adage about the enemy of my enemy 
is my friend.  Especially friends who looked like those demons.  He'd tried to 
silently leave the room, get away where he could stop and think.

Unfortunately one of the indistinct creatures had noticed him.  It had chased 
him through the corridors.  Normally Ranma was very fast, but his injured ribs 
slowed him down.  Finally he'd stood his ground, gathered as much of his chi and 
confidence as he could, and let fly with a Moko Takabisha.  And it had worked, 
as far as he could tell; the creature looked as if it had fallen to the ground.  
It was now lying still.

Ranma gathered his breath and his wits.  He lowered his hand and examined the 
cut; one of the creatures had thrown something that had bitten him when he had 
grabbed it out of the air.  He tsked in annoyance and tried to focus on the 
situation at hand.  This was the first moment of peace he'd had since arriving 
in this nightmare world.  If present experience was any indication, he'd have 
precious little of it.

He had to get away.  The other creatures would be coming after this one.  Then 
maybe he could sneak back to the original room and try to figure out how to get 
back.

He was about to turn away when he saw something on the creature.  In the frantic 
rush of attacks and counter-attacks, he hadn't paid it much attention.  He 
walked up to the prone creature and looked down.

A soft light shone from a crystal of some sort.  The crystal was the only 
distinct thing on the creature.  He could make out its facets.  He wondered if 
it was a diamond or not.  Whatever it was, it looked magical.  He'd had a fair 
amount of experience with magic.  This bit of magic seemed to reach through 
whatever was blurring the rest of the world.  It just might be his ticket home.

He reached out and touched the crystal.  Nothing happened.  It was embedded in 
the creature somehow.  He gripped it with his fingertips and gently pulled.  He 
slowly increased the force of his pull until the crystal popped out.  As it did, 
something seemed to shift in the creature.  He jumped back and eyed the creature 
warily, but it didn't move again.

Still, it was a good reminder that he needed to get away.  He gave the crystal a 
quick glance, then put it into his pocket.  He turned and ran down the 
corridors, carefully counting his turns so he could get back to where he had 
been.

---

Serena slowly clawed her way back to consciousness.  She ached all over, 
especially in her chest.  Still, she didn't have time to worry about that.  Her 
friends needed her; together, they would leave this nightmare world.

She opened her eyes and saw that the Scouts were all around her, and that Tuxedo 
Mask was holding her in his arms as he knelt on the floor.  She smiled at him, 
deciding that she very much liked waking up in his arms.

"Serena, are you all right?"  Tuxedo Mask was nearly frantic with worry.  That 
made her even happier.

"Yes, I'm fine.  Did you beat them?"  She looked around, expecting to see 
relieved faces and happy smiles.  Instead, they still looked at her sadly.

The smiled faded from her own face.  "What's wrong?"  She did a quick head 
count, and saw that no one was missing, much to her relief.

No one spoke.  Serena's alarm grew the longer the silence went on.  "What is 
it?"

Sailor Mercury knelt beside her.  "Serena, do you know what happened to the 
Imperium Silver Crystal?"

Serena's eyes widened in shock.  She looked down and noticed two things 
immediately.  She was dressed in her normal clothes, and the Silver Crystal was 
missing from her locket.

She gasped as horror washed over her.  The crystal was gone, lost.  She 
frantically looked around, knowing even as she did that she would find nothing; 
the Sailor Scouts would have already looked.

She looked up at Tuxedo Mask.  "That creature must have it.  The one that moved 
so fast.  I ran after it but it zapped me and must have taken the Imperium 
Silver Crystal."

Tuxedo Mask's features turned stern.  "Serena, what were you doing attacking it 
by yourself?  We were attacking all of the youma, and then suddenly I sensed 
that you were in danger, and I *felt* you get hit by it."  His expression 
softened, became pained.  "I ran here as fast as I can, but no one was around 
when I arrived."

"I'm sorry, Tuxedo Mask.  Darien.  I... I couldn't let it get away and warn the 
others."  Tears formed at her eyes.  "Instead, I let it get away *and* take the 
crystal from me."

Sailor Jupiter knelt next to Sailor Mercury and clasped Serena's shoulders.  
"Hey, don't worry about that, it don't matter right now.  We'll find it and get 
back home, don't worry."

Serena tried to take comfort from Sailor Jupiter.  She didn't much succeed.

Sailor Mercury still had her visor down.  She grimaced.  "We have to get out of 
here.  Youma are coming from all around.  We need to run back towards the 
perimeter or they'll overwhelm us."

Serena nodded her understanding and got to her feet with Tuxedo Mask's help.  
Without further ado, Sailor Mercury began running down a hallway, and everyone 
else ran after her.

Serena's mind was numbed by her failure.  She'd lost the Crystal.  The Imperium 
Silver Crystal entrusted to her by Queen Serenity.  By... by her mother.  She 
had undertaken a very important responsibility, and blown it.

Her feet pounded the floor while she ran, sending shocks through her.  Failure.  
Her feet were talking to her with their rhythm.  Fail-ure.  Fail-ure.  She - was 
- a - fail - ure.  Lost - the - Crys - tal - lost - your - pow - ers - use - 
less - worth - less - FAIL - URE!

She stumbled and fell.  Tuxedo Mask was instantly at her side, his hand on her 
back.  "Serena!  Are you all right?"

Serena could do nothing but take deep breaths.  She was either sobbing or 
exhausted.  Probably both.

Sailor Mercury was nearly frantic.  "We can't stay here!  We've got to keep 
moving!"

Tuxedo Mask scooped up Serena and nodded to Sailor Venus.  She nodded back, and 
they started running again.

Serena put her arms around Tuxedo Mask's neck and held on as best she could, 
ignoring the tears streaming down her face.  As plain old Serena, she didn't 
have the stamina and energy the others had.  They could run for hours and fight 
battles at the end, fresh as daisies.  She used to be able to do that.  Before 
she'd become a failure.

She spent an interminable amount of time going around in her circle of failure, 
living over and over again what she had done wrong and how it had ruined her.  
She had no idea how much time passed before she felt Tuxedo Mask slow and come 
to a halt.

Sailor Mercury's voice floated into her ears from somewhere.  "Okay, we're just 
about at the perimeter.  I've moved us a little along the arc, as well, so we're 
not in the direct path of the search parties.  We've lost them for now."

"So what do we do now?"  Sailor Mars sounded uncertain.  "We've got to find 
Serena's Crystal."

Sailor Venus's voice was steady and calm.  "Sailor Mercury, can you scan for the 
Imperium Silver Crystal?"

Serena looked up in time to see Mercury shake her head.  "I've been trying.  I'm 
just not picking it up.  It may be in the center; I have a little difficulty 
scanning there."

"So it comes down to the same thing."  Sailor Venus looked around.  "We have to 
go to the center and attack."  "We've got a window of opportunity here."  Ami 
brought up her computer and tapped it a few times.  "They've moved most of their 
search parties to the area where they encountered us.  If we move along the 
perimeter as we move towards the center - spiral in, as it were - we should be 
able to reach the center easily without running into any more youma.  Of course, 
there are still the guards around the center itself; they haven't moved."

Sailor Venus gathered everyone's eyes.  "That sounds like a good plan.  Any 
objections?"

Sailor Mars frowned.  "What about Serena?  She could get easily hurt without her 
powers.  Maybe we should leave her here and come back for her when we've won."

"No."  Tuxedo Mask's hard voice and stern features brooked no argument.  "I 
won't leave her behind.  And you'll need me with you.  Don't worry, I'll protect 
her."

Sailor Venus stared evenly at him, then smiled and nodded.  "I know you will."  
She shifted her gaze to Serena and her smile faltered.  "How are you doing, 
Serena?"

Serena did her best to force a smile.  "I'll be okay.  You guys worry about 
getting us out of here.  Don't waste time thinking about me."

The Scouts surrounded her, smiling their reassurance.  Sailor Jupiter grabbed 
Serena's arm and gave her a little shake.  "Time spent thinking about you is 
never wasted, Serena."

The others murmured their assent.  Tuxedo Mask squeezed her briefly.  Serena 
kept the smile on her face, trying to hide the fact of her failure from them.

Finally, Sailor Venus nodded to Sailor Mercury.  The began running down the 
hallways again.  Serena welcomed the opportunity to retreat inside herself 
again, where she and her failure could spend time consoling each other.

---

Ranma's day had not improved.

Living in a black world that refused to come into focus was hard on his sanity.  
Just walking was difficult when his eyes couldn't tell where the floor was 
exactly and sent confusing signals to his legs.  He did best when he kept his 
eyes closed.

Unfortunately, the world was crawling with those demon things.  They had begun 
to attack him on sight, confirming his gut feeling that they weren't his 
friends.  They had fearful attacks, sending many different kinds of energy 
sizzling in his direction.  His ribs felt better and he was able to avoid the 
attacks easily.  Rather than fight back, he had simply fled.  He wasn't a 
coward, but he had no idea what was going on or what he was fighting for.  
Without an established goal of some sort, fighting served no purpose.

There were so *many* of the demon things around.  He moved through the endless 
halls, running into groups of them all over the place.  He'd just be eluding one 
group when another came into view.

At one point he'd reached a junction where, looking down a hallway, he'd seen a 
mass of the demons gathered at the next junction.  Beyond them, he could see 
what appeared to be a large open area.  He hadn't taken any time to examine it; 
as soon as the demons saw him, they began launching long-range energy attacks at 
him, and he'd had to beat a hasty retreat.

Since this was something new, he'd decided to try to come at it from a different 
angle.  He began to get a rough idea of the layout; this room seemed to be the 
center of some sort of building, and the hallways were arranged in a spoke-and- 
wheels layout around the center.  He managed to make a complete circuit of the 
center, determining that hundreds of demons were guarding the center, and could 
not be baited into running after him.

At last, not knowing what to do with this information, he'd returned to the room 
he'd first entered.  It was empty now, as far as he could tell.  He walked to 
the spot where he'd first appeared, but could see nothing different about it.

He swore profusely.  He just couldn't *see* anything, *do* anything useful.  And 
that was extremely annoying.  At least Happosai or Ryoga could be seen and 
fought.  He knew that he could do something about them, even if what he tried 
didn't always work.  The most frustrating thing in the world to him was the 
inability to act.

Ranma grunted and took the crystal out of his pocket.  It continued to be the 
only thing, other than the demons, that he could focus on.  It *was* beautiful, 
and seemed to be almost alive, pulsing light in his hand.

He looked around, as if afraid someone was about to see him do something silly.  
Then he shrugged and spoke.  "Um.  Say.  Do you think you can get me out of 
here?"

The crystal didn't respond.

"I, uh, sure would like, uh, to know what's going on, if you could tell me."

Still nothing.  Ranma sighed and tried to think of what to do.

He tried lots of stupid stuff.  He held it up and tried to invoke it.  He cursed 
at it and threatened to grind it to dust if it didn't help him.  He tried to 
channel chi through it, which didn't succeed at all.  He was tempted to swallow 
it, in the hope that somehow it would bring the world into focus, but restrained 
himself in time.

It did give him an idea.  He brought the crystal to one eye and squeezed the 
other shut.  He tried to look through the crystal.  The crystal had a lot of 
facets, and whatever light it contained reflected off of them, threatening to 
dazzle his vision.  He could see hints of something.  The floors and walls 
seemed... green.  Green rather than black.  And he could focus on them.

Still, the vision was much too splintered to be useful.  His mind kept trying to 
create a coherent picture from the facets' reflections and failed miserably.

He lowered the crystal and looked around, but everything was still black and 
fuzzy.  Still, he felt more than a little relieved about what he'd discovered.  
There *was* a real world out there; he was just slightly removed from it 
somehow.

He was certain that the key to getting back to the real world lay in the 
crystal.  He just had to figure out how to use it.  He could spend days - years, 
even - trying to work it out himself and not get anywhere.  He needed to find 
someone who knew how the crystal worked.

Whoever - or whatever - lived in the center of this building probably knew how 
to use it.  Whether they would help him or not was another issue altogether.  
Current indications were not encouraging.

Ranma rubbed his eyebrows with his free hand.  All this thinking was giving him 
a headache.  Still, he'd been able to make some progress.  He could act, if he 
wanted to.  March to the center of the building holding the crystal in front of 
him and hope that it was valuable to the demons.  Maybe they'd listen to him and 
try to strike a bargain with him.

Ranma fell to his seat.  He'd been running around for hours; it had to be close 
to midnight back at the Tendo home.  He was tired, he needed sleep.  It was 
probably best to take a nap and think about his plan again when he wasn't so 
tired.

He weighed the risks.  He might be attacked in his sleep.  Fortunately, the old 
man had been attacking him in his bed for years, trying to teach him to always 
be ready for a fight.  It had gotten to the point where he was almost able to 
avoid attacks in his sleep.

He decided to try it.  He went to a corner of the junction and felt the walls to 
make sure nothing was there.  He curled up on the floor, the crystal held 
lightly in his hand.  He closed his eyes and let sleep take him.  His last 
thought was of Akane's horrified face, and how much he wished that he could tell 
her he was all right, for now.

---

Serena was tired.  It had been a long, full day, and she no longer had the magic 
to keep the need for sleep at bay.  Fortunately, her despair at her failure was 
doing an excellent job at keeping her awake.  Something else tickled at the back 
of her mind, calling to her.  In her daze, she could do no more than acknowledge 
that it was there.

The party coming to a halt brought her back to full awareness.  Sailor Mercury 
had her hand raised and was staring intently at her computer.  Finally, she 
turned to the other Scouts.  "There's a group of youma nearby.  We can avoid 
them, but we'll need to backtrack significantly if we're going to avoid them and 
a couple of other groups.  The search parties are beginning to spread out again, 
becoming less clumped at where our last battle was.  By the time we backtrack 
from here, they may be spread all about again, and we'll have lost this window."

Sailor Mars frowned at her.  "Are you saying we should attack them, get them out 
of the way?"

Mercury thinned her lips.  "I think it might be best.  If we can get by them, 
we'll be clear until we reach the center."

Everyone looked at Sailor Venus, who reluctantly nodded.  "Okay.  How far away 
are they and how many of them?"

Sailor Mercury consulted her computer.  "About fifty youma three junctures ahead 
and two junctures up."

"Any other groups close by?"

"Nothing within a fifteen-node radius."

"Okay.  Tuxedo Mask, I think we should leave Serena here.  She's not in danger 
and you'll be able reach her quickly if you sense it.  But we'll need your help 
with the youma, and we can't risk getting her hurt in the battle."

Tuxedo Mask looked down at Serena.  Serena put on a smile that felt shaky to 
her, and jumped down from his arms, pushing him away.  "I'll be okay.  Go get 
'em."

Tuxedo Mask continued to stare at her.  Finally, he slowly nodded.  "Don't you 
move.  I'll be back for you soon."

"I know."  Serena tried to put more force into her words and smile.  "All of 
you, go kick some youma butt for me."

A chuckle seemed to pass through everyone.  Sailor Venus grinned, then turned to 
the others.  "We'll approach them line abreast, and start firing as soon as we 
see them.  Watch for youmas that flee; we can't let any of them get away."

The others nodded.  They lined up and ran off.  Tuxedo Mask looked once over his 
shoulder, his face full of worry.

Serena watched them until they reached a far-off junction and turned a corner.  
She had never felt so useless and helpless in her life.  Even the Arctic wastes 
hadn't been this bad.  When it came right down to it, Serena was just a useless, 
worthless bystander.

She took out the locket and examined it.  She used to be able to transform to 
Sailor Moon without the Silver Crystal.  When she'd acquired it, it had fused 
with her, augmenting her power.  At the same time, without it she had no power 
at all.  When she had merged with it, the Imperium Silver Crystal had become at 
once her greatest weapon and her greatest weakness.

Merged with it.

Serena frowned at her phrasing.  Queen Serenity had taught her a little of the 
history of the Moon Kingdom, and had at the same time presented her the scepter 
and given her some knowledge about how the Crystal worked.  It was linked to 
her, and had come to her at her hour of need, when Darien had lain dying on her 
lap.

She needed it again.

And suddenly, she realized what was tickling the back of her mind.  It was the 
Silver Crystal; she could feel it.  She knew where it was.  Why she hadn't felt 
it before, she didn't know.  But it was there.

She tried calling it to her.  She tried gripping it with her mind and bringing 
it flying to her hand like it had before.  Nothing happened.  She really had no 
idea what she was doing.  She wasn't like Queen Serenity; she still had a lot to 
learn.

But she knew where it was.  She could go to it, get it for herself.

She looked down the hallway where the others had gone.  She should wait for 
them.  But if they went with her to get the Silver Crystal, they'd lose their 
best chance at penetrating the center.  They couldn't afford that.  She needed 
to do this herself.

She reached inside her skirt pocket and pulled out a pencil and notebook.  She'd 
wanted to do some drawings of Darien at the lake.  A hundred years ago, it 
seemed like.  Now, however, they could serve a different use.

She wrote a quick note, ripped the page off, and set it on the floor.  Then she 
ran down a hallway, excitement giving her energy where the magic could not.  At 
last, she had a way to atone for her sins.  She would get the Crystal back, or 
die trying.

---

Darien raised his cape, and the energy attack of the youma bounced harmless off 
it.  Sailor Mars nailed it with a fireball, and it winked out of reality.  Out 
of this reality, anyway.

He looked around to find that the area was clear.  He sighed in relief.  The 
battle had taken a lot longer than he had thought.  Without Serena's scepter to 
help even the odds a little, fifty youma were tough to overcome.

Sailor Venus took charge, as always.  Darien respected her quiet, competent 
combat leadership.  "Is everyone okay?"

The other Sailor Scouts nodded, and Darien whirled around to run down the 
hallway they'd entered from.  Although he knew that Serena was in no present 
danger, he'd feel a lot better with her in his sight.

He heard the Scouts run after him.  They quickly made their way back to the 
junction where they'd left her.

Serena wasn't there.

"Serena!"  Darien began to panic.  He felt again to see if Serena was in danger, 
and confirmed that she was all right.  Still, perhaps his senses were a little 
dulled in this strange world.  He looked intently down each of the hallways, but 
didn't find her.

"Look!"  Sailor Jupiter bent down and picked up a piece of paper.  Darien 
recognized Serena's writing on it.

"What's it say?"  Sailor Mars seemed almost as frantic with worry as Darien was.

Sailor Jupiter read the note.  "I can feel the Crystal.  I know where it is.  
I'm going after it.  You guys go on to the center, don't waste this opporunity.  
Once I'm Sailor Moon, I'll meet you there.  Tell Darien not to worry, I'll be 
with you soon.  Love, Serena."

Sailor Mars exploded.  "What does that spaghetti-brained idiot think she's 
doing?  She'll get herself killed!"

Darien nodded rapidly.  "We have to go after her!"

Sailor Mercury spoke almost timidly.  "I'm as worried as you are, but Serena 
makes a good point.  We'll never have a better chance at the center.  The way is 
clear now.  If we can reach the center and attack, it may draw youma away from 
where Serena's heading."

Darien narrowed his eyes.  "You know where she's going?"

Mercury had yet to remove her visor.  "I'm tracking her now.  She's over twenty 
nodes away.  There are already two search parties between us and her.  So far, 
there aren't any youma in the direction she's heading, but that could change."

Sailor Venus came up to Darien and looked steadily into his eyes.  Her voice was 
calm and reasonable.  "If we go after her, we'll have to fight a lot of youma, 
and that will bring more youma to the area.  That will increase the likelihood 
of Serena being caught by one of them.  The best way we can protect her is to do 
as she says.  Go to the center and draw the youma to us.  If Serena does get the 
Silver Crystal, she can find us at the center, and together we can beat whatever 
evil lurks there.  If we rush off after her, we'll just make it more likely that 
she'll be killed.  And us, too."

Darien glared at Sailor Venus, enraged by her suggestion that they abandon 
Serena.  He tried to come up with all of the reasons why her plan was wrong.  He 
couldn't do it.  Everything Venus and Mercury had said *was* reasonable.

His heart lurched at the thought of Serena, alone and powerless, facing squads 
of youma.  And yet, that was more likely to happen if he went charging after 
her.

He closed his eyes.  "Dear Serena, please be safe.  Come back to me," he 
whispered.  He opened his eyes, and saw that Sailor Venus had heard, and 
understood.  He saw his pain reflected in her face, and felt his burden lessen a 
little.

He cleared his throat.  "Let's hurry."  No one said anything else, and they ran 
towards the center.  The farther away Darien got from Serena, the more the fear 
choked him.  If he lost her, after already having lost his parents, he would 
have nothing left.  His life and destiny were tied up in the young woman he was 
leaving defenseless in hostile territory.  He hoped that someday he could 
forgive himself for abandoning her.

---

Serena stopped at a junction.  She frowned at the hallways, trying to feel for 
the Silver Crystal.  She also needed to catch her breath.  Fear and desperation 
had kept her going a long time, but her body was beginning to wear out.  She 
needed the Silver Crystal, needed the magic.

She decided that the Crystal was off to her right, and ran down the hallway.  
Its presence was getting stronger in her mind.  She wasn't sure how far off it 
was, but she thought it was close.

She reached a junction and immediately took another hallway.  She reached the 
next junction and stopped.

The Silver Crystal was in a corner of the room.  Lying around it was a youma, 
its black, indistinct form fairly radiating menace.  She wondered what had 
happened.  Perhaps it had tried to use the Crystal somehow and had been zapped.  
She could only hope.

She walked slowly, silently up to the youma and the Crystal.  The youma appeared 
to be holding the Silver Crystal in one of its hands or paws or whatever.  
Serena knelt on the ground, then reached over to take the Silver Crystal.

The youma suddenly jerked and closed its hand around the Crystal.  Immediately, 
her innate sense of where the Silver Crystal was diminished.  Evidently, the 
out-of-phase nature of the youma could block her ability to feel the Crystal.  
It was only when the youma had put it out in the open that she could feel it.

Serena leaned back, frightened.  The youma seemed to gather itself.  Serena was 
utterly defenseless.  She couldn't attack or run away.  If the youma wanted her, 
it had her.

And yet, it didn't do anything, just stayed in place.  Serena tried to calm the 
racing of her heart and figure out what to do.

Suddenly, a picture came to her mind's eye.  A picture of a normal, good-looking 
guy, watching her as she passed out.  She frowned, wondering whether she hadn't 
been just a touch delusional at the time.

And yet, she thought back to the attacks this creature had used.  They had 
attacked it without provocation.  It had attacked them, too, but that might have 
been only self-defense.  It probably could have done much worse to Sailor 
Jupiter than merely throwing her aside.  And Serena had been knocked 
unconscious, and all it had done was take the Imperium Silver Crystal.  As 
devastating as that had been, it may have only been depriving her of the source 
of her power.  The power that had been trying to kill it.  It - he - could have 
killed her, and he hadn't.  He could kill her now, and he wasn't.

Serena drew a cautious breath.  "Hello.  My name's Serena.  What's yours?"

Silence.  He appeared to open his hand; she could see the Crystal again.  The 
Crystal was raised to what might be his head, if he was sitting facing her.  He 
held the Crystal there.  Serena wondered what he was up to.

She tried again.  "I'm sorry we attacked you.  We thought you were a big evil 
nasty creature called a 'youma'.  All of the other creatures who look like you 
on the outside are youmas.  We thought you were one, too.  That was bad.  I'm 
sorry."  She bowed and touched her head to the ground.

A strange sound came from the blackness.  A weird whispering that faded in and 
out.  She couldn't make any sense out of it.  She straightened and tilted her 
head, trying to make it out.  He said something else, but it was as indistinct 
as his form.  She growled; evidently that out-of-phase thingy was distorting 
sound as well as sight.

Panic began to grip her.  How could she get the Crystal back if she couldn't 
communicate with it?  She felt for her notebook in her skirt pocket, and knew 
that it would be useless, too.  She couldn't just take the Crystal; that had 
been made abundantly clear.

The panic grew greater.  "Please, listen to me."  She gripped her skirt in her 
hands.  "My friends are in danger.  They're going off to battle, but they need 
my help.  I can't help them without the Imperium Silver Crystal.  Please."  

She reached a hand out towards him.  "My friends could die!"  Tears began to run 
down her cheeks.  "They could die, Darien could die.  I've got to help them."

He lowered the Crystal and seemed to grip it in his fist; it disappeared within 
the blackness.  She wasn't getting through to him.

The failure, kept carefully tucked away in the corner of her mind, rose again in 
full force.  She felt for the Crystal in her mind, but it felt distant, locked 
within the blackness before her.  She needed the Crystal, and begged it to come 
to her.  It didn't, it couldn't.  She had to come to it.

She beat the ground in frustration and despair.  "No!  It can't be like this!  
My friends need me, depend on me, and I can't let them down."  The frustration 
and despair rose to new heights, and she felt as if her brain caught on fire.  
She leapt at the black shape of the boy in front of her, trying to engulf him 
with her arms.  "I CAN'T LET THEM DOWN!"

And the light embraced her.

---

Ranma jerked awake and snatched his hand back.  He looked up to see an 
indistinct shape crouched in front of him.  He quickly got to his haunches and 
looked at it.  It had to be one of the creatures from before, the ones that had 
attacked him when he first arrived.

He waited to see what it would do.  It hadn't attacked him, merely tried to take 
the crystal away.  Now it was just sitting there, doing nothing.  A strange 
whispering sound came from somewhere within the blackness.  

He brought the crystal to his eye and looked through it.  It continued to make 
the whispering sounds as he tried to figure out its form.  He could see blue and 
purple and pink and yellow.  He moved the crystal around.  It was very much like 
taking a photograph, chopping it into bits, and putting it into a kaleidoscope.  
He could see bits of the shape's true form, but not enough to really determine 
what it was.  He thought he saw an eye, and he was somewhat certain that the 
yellow he saw was hair.  Or possibly fur.

The shape suddenly changed configuration.  Ranma opened the eye that didn't have 
the crystal in front of it and saw that the shape had become shorter.  He 
frowned, and decided that it was bowing to him.  That's what it looked like 
anyway.  He wondered if that wasn't just what he thought he wanted to see.

"What are you doing?"  The question seemed natural, although Ranma was fairly 
certain that the creature wouldn't be able to understand him.

The shape grew taller - straightening from its bow, Ranma guessed.  "Are you 
apologizing for attacking me?"  More wishful thinking.

The creature spoke some more.  The whispers were somehow more urgent.  Ranma 
squinted through the crystal again, but could make no more sense out of what it 
showed him.

Ranma lowered the crystal and gripped it in his fist.  This was not helping.  He 
had no idea if this was a friend or enemy.  It hadn't tried to attack him yet, 
even when he was asleep, which was a plus.  It had tried to take the crystal, 
which was a minus.  He wasn't yet certain that it had been a member of the group 
that had attacked him before.

He shook his head, the frustration growing.  So much going on he didn't 
understand, and no way to intelligently decide what to do.  

The creature looked as if it had begun beating the ground.  Ranma thought he 
could see frustration equal to his own in its movements.  The whisper seemed to 
echo it as well.

A strange warmth made him open his fist and look at the crystal.  It was glowing 
brightly.  Suddenly, the creature leapt at him, its arms opened wide.  Before 
Ranma could leap out of the way, the crystal seemed to explode with a white 
light.  It blinded him just as the creature crashed into him.

Ranma instinctively tightened his grip, not wanting to lose the crystal.  The 
light went out, and the warmth lessened.  He rapidly blinked his eyes and tried 
to clear them.  When he did, he found that he was looking into the eyes of a 
girl lying on top of him.

She looked to be a year or two younger than he was.  She had long blonde hair 
and a very pretty face.  Her expression was as flabbergasted as he imagined his 
was.  And he felt the curves of her body as it rested on top of his.

The only thing he could think of was that he was very glad Akane wasn't here to 
see this.

He sat up both of them up.  She scooted a small distance away.  They continued 
looking at each other.

Ranma finally found his voice.  "Are you the one I took this crystal from?"  He 
opened his hand and showed it to her.

Her eyes locked onto the crystal.  "Yes!  Give it to me, please!"

The sound of her voice filled him with relief.  At last, he could have an 
intelligent conversation.  Still, he didn't let it go to his head.  He closed 
his fist around the crystal again.  "Oh no.  You and your friends brought me 
here and attacked me, and I want to know why."

"*We* didn't bring you here.  Please, there's no time, I need the Imperium 
Silver Crystal now!"

"You'll *make* the time."  Ranma kept his voice firm.  "I want to know just what 
the hell is going on."

She put her hand to her chest and made a visible effort to calm herself.  She 
looked into his eyes, then bowed her head.  "Very well.  My name's Serena."

"Ranma.  Where are we?"

"I don't know.  The Negaverse, I think."

"The whataverse?"

"Negaverse.  Haven't you heard of the Sailor Scouts?"

"Sailor Scouts?  Like camping out in the middle of the ocean?"

"No!  Like Sailor V.  You've heard of Sailor V, right?"

"Er, no.  Does he come after Sailor U?"

"Where do you live, the South Pole?"

"Tokyo, actually."

"How can you live in Tokyo and have never heard of the Sailor Scouts?"

"Just lucky I guess."  Ranma was getting annoyed.  "What does all of this have 
to do with where we are?"

Serena growled.  "I don't have time to explain!  My friends could die!"

This brought Ranma short.  "They could?  How?"

"They're going to attack the youmas at the center."

Ranma guessed that 'youma' meant those demons he'd seen earlier.  "There are 
hundreds of them there!"

"I know!  They need my help.  Please, I need the Crystal."  She put herself in a 
kneeling position and bowed her head to the floor.  "I'm sorry we attacked you, 
we thought you were a youma.  I'm sorry, I'm sorry.  I beg you, give me the 
Crystal back.  Without it, I can't do anything, I'm useless!"

Ranma grunted.  "You don't seem useless to me."  He sighed and looked down at 
the fist that was gripping the crystal.  The Imperium Silver Crystal, according 
to Serena.  "Can you use this to get me home?"

Serena had lifted her head at his first words, looking at him strangely.  At his 
question, she straightened.  "I... I don't know.  We don't know how we got here 
ourselves.  But I promise we'll try."  She leaned forward and slowly reached 
out, hesitantly touching his knee.  "Please."

Ranma examined her face.  Her eyes were serious, her expression imploring.  She 
had obviously been crying recently.  She looked very much like a teenager who 
needed his help desperately.  Ranma had been fooled by appearances before, 
however.  She could easily be one of those demons in disguise.

What made him inclined to believe her was her admission that she wasn't sure if 
she could get him home.  Someone who just wanted the crystal would have made any 
sort of promise, lied to him in order to get the crystal.

And, deep in his gut, he felt that she was a good person.  Something in her eyes 
spoke of kindness, compassion, and a deep capacity for love.  Like he sometimes 
saw in Akane, when she wasn't yelling at him.

He lowered his eyes.  If he was ever going to see Akane again, he needed to 
trust someone.  Make a decision of some sort.  And this seemed to be his best 
bet.  She knew more about how the crystal worked than he did.

He wished he had more information.  Understood more of what was going on.  He 
didn't like the way she was pressuring him.  But if she was telling the truth, 
then any delay could be deadly.

It came down to instinct.  And instinct told him to trust Serena.

Slowly, almost reluctantly, he held out the crystal.  "Here."

She needed no encouragement.  She snatched the crystal out of his hand and leapt 
to her feet.  She fumbled at her skirt pocket and pulled out a large locket.  
She opened it, inserted the crystal, and eagerly held it up.

She tapped the crystal, and it made strange chiming sounds and began to glow.  
Her voice reverberated throughout the room.  "Moon Crystal Power!"  The crystal 
flashed brightly.  When Ranma's vision cleared, Serena was whirling around stark 
naked.

Ranma looked around in a panic, for some reason expecting Akane to appear and 
mallet him.  When that didn't happen, he looked and realized that Serena's body 
was shrouded in a blue and white haze, and that while she wasn't wearing any 
clothes and her form left nothing to the imagination, he couldn't actually see 
any skin.

Strange things continued to happen.  Ranma swore he saw wings appear on her back 
briefly.  Ribbons wrapped themselves around her, forming a set of gymnastic 
tights around her body.  Ranma had more experience with that kind of clothing 
than he cared to admit.

The extended costume change continued.  Now boots and gloves appeared, as did a 
skirt so short he wondered why she bothered.  When a crescent moon mark appeared 
on her forehead, he was sure she was done, but then the transformation merely 
moved on to the accessories stage.  Jewelry appeared on her ears, in her hair, 
around her neck, and on her forehead in the form of a diadem of some sort.

Serena raised her leg and then planted her feet, putting one hand behind her 
back and another hand above her eyes.

Ranma waited, wondering if the rouge and eyeshadow phase came next.  Instead, 
she lowered her hands and reached out to him, offering to lift him to his feet.  
"Come on, we have to go!"

Ranma gaped at her.  "I hope the crystal can do more than change your clothes."

"Yes!  Now hurry up!"  This time she grabbed his arm and pulled.  She lifted him 
easily to his feet.  She was a lot stronger than she looked.  Ranma wondered if 
the crystal had changed more than her clothing.

"We need to find the other Sailor Scouts quickly."  She turned and shrieked.  
"What happened?!"

Ranma looked around and blinked.  He had been so intent on the conversation he'd 
been having with Serena that he'd paid no attention to their surroundings.  
Things looked a lot better.  While everything was still black and fuzzy, if he 
concentrated a little bit he could sort of make out the shape of everything.  
"That's a lot better."

"Better?"  Serena sounded frantic.  "I can't see anything!"

Ranma frowned, remembering what he'd seen through the crystal.  "Are the walls 
and floor green here?"

"They're supposed to be, yes."

"To me they've been black and fuzzier than this.  I think the crystal did this.  
We were seeing different stuff and couldn't talk to each other, so it sorta met 
us halfway."

Serena thought about it for a moment.  "I needed to talk to you.  Needed to get 
the Imperium Silver Crystal from you.  I... I think I got the Silver Crystal to 
bring us together, just like you said."  She looked around.  "How are we going 
to find them?"

"I know how to get to the center.  Ready to follow me?"

"You'd better follow me.  Just point the way."

Ranma snorted.  "And who knocked who senseless?"

Serena flushed.  "That was an accident."

"Do you want me to give you another 'accident'?"

"Just try it, buster."  She grit her teeth, then suddenly looked worried.  "We 
have to find my friends quickly.  Can we go side-by-side?"

Ranma grinned.  "Sounds good to me."  He indicated a hallway, and together they 
ran off.

---

Darien huddled with the Sailor Scouts around Sailor Mercury.  She was pointing 
to a diagram on her computer.  "Okay, there are about a hundred youma at this 
junction.  There are a like number of youma at the junctions here and here.  
We'll need to break through quickly to get to the center; we can't afford to 
bogged down in a battle."

Sailor Mars frowned.  "What good will that do?  We'll just get bogged down in 
the center then."

Sailor Venus grimaced.  "I was kinda hoping that we would find something in the 
center, something we could hold hostage.  A device they use to transport their 
troops.  Or a person of some importance.  Then we can begin to talk and figure 
out what is going on."

Darien nodded.  "And in the meantime, their troops are drawn here and away from 
Serena."

Sailor Jupiter gave him a strange, quiet look.  "It this a fight we're expected 
to win?"

Darien grimaced and lowered his eyes.

Sailor Mars sounded frustrated and angry.  "I hate this, but I don't see that we 
have a choice.  The evil is there, at the center.  I can feel it.  If we do 
nothing, it will get stronger and kill us anyway.  We have to strike now."  She 
shook her head.  "I wish Sailor Moon was here."

Darien felt his chest tighten.  He wished she was here, too.  Not just because 
they could use her considerable firepower, but he would feel better if she was 
somewhere close where he could see her.  Protect her.  Tell her he loved her.

Sailor Venus brought him back to reality.  "Mercury, lay down a fog as we 
approach.  Mars, Jupiter and I will clear a path.  Tuxedo Mask, take up the rear 
and cover us when we enter the center.  We'll decide again from there.  Clear?"

Everyone nodded.  They looked at each for a moment, and Darien could see in 
their faces the very real possibility that they would not be surviving the 
attack.  They were afraid, but there was no hesitation in them - they would do 
what was necessary.  They were truly remarkable young women.  This once, he drew 
inspiration from them.

Then they turned to the attack.

---

Ranma slowed to a halt as they approached the junction.  He looked at Serena and 
put his finger to his lips.  Then he peeked around the corner.

He frowned at what he saw.  There were supposed to a hundred of those youmas 
down the hallway at the next junction, protecting the center.  Instead, he saw a 
hundred indistinct shapes.  That crystal must have taken him out of sync with 
the demons.  Still, they were more in focus than Serena and her friends had 
been; he could attack them effectively.

"So many of them," Serena sighed softly.

Ranma pulled her back from the corner.  He spoke quietly.  "I saw you and your 
friends throwing some sort of energy attacks at the youma.  Can you do that 
again?"

Serena nodded and lifted a scepter.  Ranma blinked.  He hadn't seen her carrying 
it earlier, and her costume certainly had no hiding places.  Still, he never did 
see where Akane got her hammers from, either.  "Okay.  Let's do it, then."

Serena frowned.  "Shouldn't we have a plan or something?"

Ranma shrugged.  "What kind of plan?  Just go and waste 'em."

Serena continued to frown.  She leaned around the corner again.

Ranma sighed and leaned with her.  He didn't know what she could come up with.

Suddenly, a lot of the youma began moving off.  About half of them streamed into 
the center.

Ranma and Serena looked at each other.  "That's gotta be because of your 
friends."

Serena's face became stern.  Almost... commanding.  "Then we have no time to 
waste!"  She strode confidently around the corner.

Ranma followed after her.

Serena stopped in the center of the hallway.  She pointed at the youma and began 
to speak in a loud, imposing voice.  "I am Sailor Moon, enemy of the Negaverse!"

Ranma frowned.  "Serena...."

"I am the champion of love and justice!"

"Serena...."

"For what you have done to me and my friends..."

"Serena...."

"In the name of the Moon..."

"Serena...."

She whirled to face him.  "Sailor Moon!  My name is Sailor Moon!"

"Sailor Moon."  Ranma looked at her quietly.  "Do you remember when you and I 
tried to talk earlier?  They can't understand a word you're saying."

Serena blushed.  "Oh."  She looked sheepishly at the gathered youma.

Ranma tried to move past the moment.  "They won't attack until we get fairly 
close.  I tried to get them to chase me, so I could lose them and come back to 
enter the center.  It didn't work; they won't budge.  That'll work to our 
advantage.  I can blast 'em with some of my stuff.  If you could do something 
useful with that scepter of yours from a distance, we could even the odds."

Serena nodded.  "Okay.  Is this close enough for you?"

Ranma frowned, thinking.  "I probably need to be just a little closer.  Let's 
move to halfway down the hall, then attack."

"Okay."

Ranma began moving down the hall, then realized she wasn't following.

"...I will punish you!"

He turned back to see Serena pointing at the youma.  She glanced at him briefly, 
then shrugged.  "Had to finish.  Let's go."

Ranma refrained from any more comments, although it took all of his willpower to 
do so.

They reached the halfway point.  Ranma planted his feet and gathered his chi.  
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Serena twirling about; a couple of times 
one of her long ponytails hit the back of his head as they flung out.  He 
ignored it and let loose with his attack.  His cry of "Moko Takabisha" mixed 
with Serena's cry of "Moon Scepter Elimination".

His chi-blast reached the youma and exploded, sending a lot of them flying.  
Serena's blast struck a youma, and it vanished.  The beam kept going, and she 
moved it along the line of creatures, dissolving them one by one.  Some of the 
creatures charged her, avoiding the beam.  Ranma leapt in front of her, blasted 
a couple of them with smaller chi-blasts, and sent the rest of them flying with 
physical attacks.  Soon the hallway was clear.

Ranma and Serena looked at each other for another moment.  Ranma smiled.  "We 
seem to make a pretty good team."

"Yeah.  Teamwork is nice."  Her face clouded over.  "Let's hurry.  We have to 
help my friends."

Ranma nodded.  They ran towards the center.

---

Darien back into the center, keeping an eye on the youmas.  They closed the 
breach the Sailor Scouts had made in their ranks, blocking the way out of the 
center of the building.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw more youma coming 
from other openings.  Darien hoped the Scouts found something useful to do 
quickly.  They only had a few seconds.

"That thing!  Attack it!"  Sailor Venus's command was immediately followed by 
the sounds of the Sailor Scouts launching their various attacks.

Darien launched a few roses along the path of the advancing youma, then turned 
to see what was going on.  In the center of the room, a ten-meter-tall black 
hexagonal pillar arose from a mound of black crystal.  Something inside the dark 
crystal roiled about strangely; it almost seemed as if there were creatures 
inside.  He caught a glimpse of one tortured face, silently screaming, before it 
faded back into the depths of the crystal.  Darien shuddered; the black crystal 
seemed to be an aspect of Hell.

The attacks of the Sailor Scouts didn't seem to be having any effect on the 
pillar.  Fireballs, lightning, and other things seemed to be simply absorbed 
into its murky depths.

"At last, I have you here."  The voice came from all around.  It was distorted 
and warped; Darien had no idea who it might be.  If it was anyone he knew at 
all.  "Thank you for coming.  Your death is at hand."

The pillar bulged in the direction of the Sailor Scouts.  Some sort of dark 
energy began gathering at the tip of the bulge.  Darien leapt in front of the 
Scouts and put his cape up.

A beam of the black energy erupted from the pillar and struck Darien's cape.  It 
shredded it in an instant, tearing away all of Darien's defensive shields in an 
instant.  The beam knocked him back, stunned.  Darien was quite powerful, he 
knew without conceit.  His skills were best used to confuse and distract his 
enemies, but he could gather a considerable amount of energy, if he chose to.  
Whatever this pillar was, it was many times more powerful than he was.

He heard similar blasts taking out the Sailor Scouts.  This couldn't be, it 
couldn't end this way.  Not when he and Serena had finally....

He felt something pawing his leg, something else grabbing at his shirt.  Strange 
bubbling whispering came from all around.  Despite himself, Darien shuddered.  
The worst was yet to come.

---

Ranma pulled up before he could enter the center chamber.  There were youma 
inside.  A *lot* of youma.  The seemed to be focused on something happen on the 
far side of the chamber.  A few seemed to notice him and Serena.  They moved 
towards them.  Evidently they got the other youmas' attention.  They *all* began 
to charge.

Ranma took a step back, about to suggest that they move back to the confines of 
the hallway where they could limit the area of attack.  Serena's shriek made him 
glance over his shoulder.  More youma were coming behind them.  Probably the 
youma that had been out wandering the halls.

Ranma swore profusely.  They were in trouble.  

Serena wielded her hand, and the youma began to vanish one by one.  This wasn't 
enough; there were too many of them coming from too many sides.  Ranma let loose 
with some more chi-blasts, wishing that he had the time to set up a Hiryuu 
Shoten Ha.

Then the youma reached them, and Ranma knew nothing but the fighting.  He sent 
them flying, moving faster than he ever had before, reaching a rhythm he'd never 
before experienced.  The roar of pure, ruthless battle filled his ears, and he 
whirled about, sending the demons flying.  Yet, deep in the rational part of his 
brain, the part that was somehow coolly observing everything around him, he knew 
it wouldn't be enough.  There were too many opponents.  Eventually, one would 
breach his defenses, and then they'd have him.

A loud, crackling sound erupted from somewhere nearby.  And the youma began to 
disappear.  Not just disappear; *dissolve*.  It looked very much like Serena's 
scepter attack, but it wasn't destroying the creatures one by one.  It was 
destroying them by the dozens; everything in the path of the beam simply 
vanished.  Ranma continued his attack, careful to stay out of the beam's way, 
sending a few creatures into it.  Soon, the hallway was clear.

He finally got a chance to look at Serena.  He blinked; she'd had another 
costume change.  Now she was wearing a strapless flowing white dress.  It looked 
completely inadequate for combat; the tights had been better.  Still, he had a 
feeling that the more powerful form of her attack had depended on her making 
this change.

Her eyes met his.  "Are you all right?"  Her voice was different.  She spoke 
with a deliberate cadence, carefully enunciating each word.  It sounded 
almost... regal.

He nodded slowly.  "That was pretty neat."

She turned to look into the center.  "My friends must be inside.  Let us attend 
to them, quickly."

"Uh, yeah."  Ranma wasn't sure he cared much for super-powered teenagers 
suffering from multiple personality disorders.  She still seemed to be on his 
side, however, so he decided not to make an issue out of it.

Together, they entered the chamber.

---

Just as the youma had begun to torture Darien, they'd dropped him and moved 
away.  Darien wasn't sure if this was a good sign, or just a prelude to more 
pain.

He heard blasts, and decided this was a good thing.  Perhaps not all of the 
Sailor Scouts had been taken after all.

He struggled to sit up.  He needed to help them, needed to protect Serena.  He 
tried to feel for her and realized to his horror that he couldn't.  She wasn't 
there inside his head anymore.  What that meant, he was afraid to find out.

"S-Serena...."  With an effort, he got up to one knee.  He needed to find her, 
help her.

He looked around to see the other Sailor Scouts in various states of disarray.  
Sailor Mercury had a nasty bruise on her cheek; Sailor Jupiter's skirt had been 
ripped off.  Sailor Venus was also kneeling, however, and Sailor Mars was on her 
feet.  There were no youma, out of sync or otherwise, to be seen.

Darien dared to hope.  These Sailor Scouts recovered quickly, and had endless 
reserves of determination and will.  They would survive, and take the fight back 
to the enemy.

"Oh no you don't."  The dark voice was back.

Black beams leapt from the pillar and struck Darien.  More than struck; 
*grabbed* him.  He felt as if his soul had been hooked.  The energy he had just 
begun to rebuild drained from him.  He retained enough awareness to look around 
and see that the Sailor Scouts were similarly snared.

"No rescues, no way to add your power to that of the Moon Princess.  Beryl made 
a mistake in killing you and letting you pass out of her control.  Your deaths 
can wait until I've won the Silver Crystal for myself."

Darien struggled to stand, to throw a rose, to do *something*.  He couldn't; it 
had him.  He looked around the chamber, praying that he could find something to 
use, some way to get out of the trap he was in.

His eyes caught two figures come through one of the entrances.  Two more youma 
by their out-of-focus, indistinct forms.

Just as he was wondering what had caused the explosions he'd heard earlier, 
black lightning erupted from one of the newly-arrived figures to strike the 
pillar.  He didn't hear a sound, but a feeling of pain seemed to echo throughout 
the chamber.  Whatever this was, it was hurting the creature inside the black 
crystal.

As Darien watched, the black lightning changed.  It became brighter, as if 
burning off the haze that surrounded it.  His eyes moved back to the source of 
the lightning, and found that it was coalescing as well.  It became sharper, 
focused, white.

Serena.

His heart leapt at the sight of her.  She was dressed as the Moon Princess, her 
most powerful form.  Her face was angry and commanding.  She focused entirely on 
the pillar, and on her beam as it continued to strike at the black crystal.  She 
was going to do it, she was going to win.

And then, something began to bulge on the pillar's surface.  Something that 
pointed ominously towards Serena.

Darien's hopes came crashing down, to be drowned in his fear.  It was going to 
attack her!  He could see the line-of-sight the pillar's beam would take; it 
would be well below the stream of power Serena was sending, and would strike 
her.  Kill her.

Darien struggled with the last of his strength.  He felt his tattered cape and 
mask vanish, to be replaced by a regal clothes and a sword at his hip.  It gave 
him a surge of energy, but the black tendril that was still hooked to him 
drained it away easily.  

He could do nothing as the black beam leapt from the pillar.  He cried out as 
the woman he loved was struck down in front of his eyes.

Except, as he watched with amazement, she wasn't.

The second black shape, the one that had come in with Serena, leapt in front of 
her and took the blow.  The black beam poured into the indistinct form in front 
of Serena.  As it continued to bear down, it seemed to draw the blackness from 
the form.  Slowly, somebody came into shape.  A young man, perhaps eighteen, 
stood with his arms crossed.  A blue energy of some sort lit his whole form, 
mostly concentrated at the point where the black beam was striking him on one of 
his crossed arms.

"No."  The voice in the pillar barely registered in Darien's ears.  Still, he 
could hear the desperation and fear.  "No!"

The red-shirted man fell to one knee, still keeping his arms upraised and 
absorbing the blow of the beam.  Serena was smiling almost savagely.

And the pillar was cracking.

Suddenly Darien was free.  The black beam striking the man protecting Serena 
seemed to grow in intensity.  Darien sensed that a last-ditch, all-out effort to 
win was being made.  Serena's new friend began to falter.

Darien drew his sword and pointed it at the pillar.  A blue-white light split 
the air between his sword and the black crystal.  Seeing what he was doing, the 
Sailor Scouts came up behind him and linked hands.  Each added her own power 
with a shout.  His sword became indistinguishable in the brightness of the light 
flowing from it.  The crystal surface where his sword was striking began to 
crack as well.  The black beam withered and died.  Just in time, it seemed; the 
young man in front of Serena collapsed to the ground.  The pillar's entire 
surface became a latticework of cracks.  Then, with a despairing cry, it 
exploded.

And the world came to an end.

---

"Ranma, hear me."

"Ser- Sailor Moon, is that you?"

"Please call me Serena again.  Are you back to yourself?"

"I... I guess so.  This may sound strange, but I'm pretty sure I died a second 
ago."

"Death, as it happens, is merely transitory."

"Uh, yeah, whatever.  Where are we?  I can't see.  In fact, I don't seem to have 
a body."

"You are in a dimension between dimensions.  When Jadeite was at last destroyed, 
the reality of this place was destroyed with him."

"Who is Jadeite?"

"First General of a defeated Queen.  It is a long story."

"We appear to have plenty of time."

"Appearances are not correct in this instance.  We must get you out of here 
before you lose the ability to know yourself."

"Know myself?"

"Know the shape of your body, the reality of your existence."

"Uh, I guess those would be good things to have.  So what's the hitch?"

"I do not know where you came from.  I have sent the others back to our home, 
but it is not your home."

"I thought you lived in Tokyo."

"It is a different Tokyo from yours.  I could send you there as well, but I 
believe you want to go to your Tokyo."

"Uh, yeah.  Can you find it?"

"I cannot, but you can."

"Oh yeah?"

"We are all bound to our realities by the bonds we form with other people.  I 
need for you to reach for those bonds.  Feel them inside you, let them draw you 
back to where you belong."

"Back to where I belong?"

"I feel some hesitancy in you.  Please believe me when I say such doubts can 
kill you.  You must feel the bonds with all your heart.  And soon."

"O-Okay.  I-I've got it."

"She is very pretty.  Who is she?"

"My - my fiancee."

"Ah.  I am glad that you have such a love waiting for you.  Go to her."

"I will.  Oh, and Serena?  Thanks.  Thanks for sending me back.  And, uh, 
bringing me back to life."

"It is I who should thank *you*, Ranma.  Without your help, Jadeite would surely 
have won."

"It, uh, was no big deal."

"A curious mixture of arrogance and humility.  It is a shame that you live in 
another universe.  I think it would be quite something to know you."

"Thanks.  It was nice meeting you too.  Although I'd look into that multiple 
personality thing of yours."

"There will come a time when I am one person, fear not.  Now, go home to your 
fiancee."

"Okay.  Good-bye, Serena."

"Good-bye, Ranma."

"Liked the dress, by the way."

"Did you?  I made it myself."

---

Serena opened her eyes to find herself staring up at Darien.  He had a loving 
smile tinged with just a touch of nervousness.  She instinctively pointed her 
lips towards his, and waited for him to move.

At the same time, mentally she frowned.  Didn't something just happen?  
Something major?  Oh yes, she'd brought them home right after their abduction.  
She must have botched it, brought them home too soon.  They'd overlapped with 
their previous selves.  They'd forget everything that had just happened.  Oh 
well, maybe it was for the best.

Forget?  What was she supposed to have forgotten?  What was for the best?

She frowned and looked down at her feet.  The ground looked solid and normal.  
She didn't know why she thought it should be any other way.

"Serena, what's wrong?"  Darien's voice sounded concerned.  She looked up into 
his curious and slightly worried eyes.  She melted at their sight.  It was for 
moments like these that she had fought so hard.  Fought what, exactly, she 
didn't know and didn't care about right now.

"Nothing.  Nothing at all."  She leaned closer to him and closed her eyes.  He'd 
better get the hint.

After a moment, she felt his hands tentatively clasp her shoulders; then she 
felt lips against hers.  She sighed through the kiss, kissing him back tenderly 
and exulting in the moment.

An errant thought drifted through the haze of emotion and sensation.  "Thank 
you, Ranma."

---

Ranma bounced off the wall.  He stopped in the center of the dojo and frowned.  
Why did he think there was supposed to be an earthquake?  He looked up at the 
ceiling, for some reason surprised that it was there.

He tried to shake off the weird feelings.  He felt like he was waking up from a 
dream.

"Ranma!"  The voice was angry, but the voice was often angry.  He turned to see 
Akane glaring at him from the dojo door.  "What did you do to P-chan?  Did you 
send him running away again?"

The sight of Akane filled him with strange emotions.  He felt peaceful.  Maybe 
even... joyful at seeing her face.  Serena was right; Akane *was* pretty.

Serena?

Ranma shook his head.  "Uh, sorry, I haven't seen P-chan today."

Akane glared at him a moment, then grimaced.  "He was just here.  Oh, I hope 
he's all right."

Ranma glanced up at the ceiling again, frowned, then turned back to Akane.  
"Let's go look for him."

Akane blinked at him.  "What?"

Ranma grinned, walked over to her, and put his hand on her arm.  "C'mon.  We can 
find him.  He can't have gotten far."

Akane stared at him in shock.  Ranma just kept smiling, for some reason enjoying 
her confusion.  Finally, Akane's face softened and she nodded.  "All right."

They moved out of the dojo.  They walked side-by-side around the yard, looking 
through the bushes, before moving outside.  Contentment settled over Ranma, and 
even though he knew it would only last a moment, he still luxuriated in it.

He reminded himself to thank Serena, whoever she was, the next time he saw her.

~*~



Author's Afterword:

Okay, well, this little baby started out very small.  In fact, the original 
inspiration is that spamfic I wrote in response to Sean Gaffney's email about 
what would happen to him in the Sailor Moon universe.  It got me to wondering 
how Ranma and Serena would get along.  So I decided to write this piece of 
fluff, a light piece of adventure that gets them together to fight an evil.

Let me know if I violate any Sailor Moon canon that you're aware of.  This is 
supposed to take place in Sailor Moon R, right after Ann and Alan and before the 
Negamoon saga.

This really isn't meant to be terribly serious.  This was fun to write, but it 
perhaps dragged on longer than it should have.  I was surprised by how big it 
got.

Well, let me know if you found this entertaining or not.

-Richard