Chapter Seventeen

“Act?” Rei asked no longer able to hold back her fury, “ACT?! WHAT THE HELL LADY?!”

“Rei calm down.” Darien said trying to sooth the fire priestess by helping Jadeite hold her back.

“Fuck off Shields!” Rei yelled unable to contain herself, “You’re allowed to have melt down but

I’m not?! How can you sit there and have this woman tell you your lover was a phony?! Fraud?!

FAKE?!”

“I never said!” Pluto countered feeling insulted

“You might as well have.” Lita responded equally trying to control herself.

“Look you guys are not getting it! Things are all wrong here. Nothing is happening like it should. Rini should not even be here, the Generals should still be dead, Ami is supposed to be in Germany, Lita should be ready to go to France, and Darien is suppose to be in Harvard.” Pluto nearly shouted.

Rei froze and so did everyone else. They could not believe this was happening, “What are you talking about? I turned down that college like a year ago.” Ami said stunned.

“Why would I go to France? What is there anyway?” Lita asked.

“And I told Serena that I would stay with her.” Darien said scratching his head.

“I can’t believe that we would still be dead. So much for hope.” Malachite said sadly.

“Where’s the love?” Zoicite asked wistfully

“Don’t we ever get a happy ending?” Nephrite asked feeling insulted.

“Oh shut up! She said still. That means we come back.” Kunzite told them.

“Just tell us what is supposed to happen. Maybe then we can be back on track.” Mina suggested.

“Wow you actually made a smart suggestion.” Rei said slightly surprised

Pluto sighed and sat down followed by everyone else, “How much of the battle do you all know?”

“You guys where fighting with mommy,” Rini said quietly

Pluto nodded as each of them where looking ashamed, “Yes. But we do not have any memory of it because that was not us.”

“I remember it was our star seeds.” Ami explained.

“That is right but to her it was really us. Anyway after the battle you all started to drift apart. Serena felt as if it was because of her that you all seemed unhappy. So she knew that Darien wanted to be a doctor so she rather forced him to go back to America. When he went back, Ami got another chance to go to Germany. At first she did not want to go, but Serena too forced her. So within a few months she left then not long after a culinary school in France got in contact with Lita and she too accepted to go…rather Serena told her. Not too long after that Mina’s dream to be in show biz popped up when she was accepted into performing arts. That left Rei and Serena by themselves,” Pluto sighed and she started back up, “Rei your grandfather became very sick. There was nothing they could do. You became upset and started to become very irate around Serena. So she told you to leave Tokyo to get a change of scenery. Rei protested as much as she could until she was ordered to go. That left Serena alone.”

“What about her family?” Darien asked

Pluto shook her head, “After you all left Serena was rather depressed. Her old friends, Molly and Melvin, they left to moved to a college also in America. So to cheer Serena up, her family took her to the hot springs. But along the way they got into a car accident. A drunken truck driver hit the car full on. Theoretically Serena should have died, but being connected to the Silver Crystal it protected her. Sammy, Ken, and Ikuko did not make it. The lost hit Serena hard. She was alone. Luna and Artemis had gone off to live their lives, you all had left to fulfill your dreams, and Rini was in the future. No one in the family had wanted her and besides she was a legal adult. In order to cope with her lost she dove into school work.”

“Why didn’t we know about this?” Ami whispered

“You mean like why she wouldn’t tell you as to why she was being distant? She does not want to be considered weak, burden, useless. Besides she was always hiding her true feelings from you all.” Pluto responded

“Ok so then what? You said it was the future that she was supposed to turn into this so what happened?” Lita asked

“Well while you were gone she had to battle a few rouge demons by herself and she had become a workaholic. Even Ami had to beg her to take a day off from her job. So when Crystal Tokyo did come nothing had changed Serena for the better. She became more reserved and even irate at people. Then finally one day darkness consumed her and you all had to battle.”

“Did we win?” Rei asked

“Yes but it was never the same after that.” Pluto responded

“So what changed now?” Darien asked not sure if he wanted the answer

“Her pure heart shattered and-” Pluto was interrupted

“How?” Mina gasped

“Yeah if it did wouldn’t she be a mindless zombie?” Lita asked

“You all didn’t let me finish. When her pure heart shattered it was replaced with a heart filled with darkness.”

“Heart filled with darkness?” Rini asked

“Yes. Before Serena sealed Chaos away it shattered the pure heart and in its place made a dark heart from the very essence of chaos itself.” Pluto explained

“So Chaos made a heart from itself?” Ami asked writing down what Pluto had just said.

“Precisely.”

“But Serena is weak around darkness isn’t she? Like the Silver Crystal would not have been able to beat the Dark Crystal, remember the fight with the Doom Phantom? It took her crystal and Rini’s crystal to beat him. Plus our powers as well.” Lita said confused

Rei thought for a moment and replied, “Not necessarily. She would already have to had accepted the darkness or at the very least be connected to it somehow.”

“So then in order for Chaos to have been able to do that…Serena would have to be susceptible to the darkness.” Darien said thoughtfully

“Or at the very least vulnerable.” Rei responded

“But how? No one died in this timeline.” Mina pointed out

Ami thought and she responded, “While that is true she still has been distant with us anyway and that all started with Nicholas. He said he was in the void so Chaos got to him and he started filling Serena’s head with ideas and nightmares. It all makes sense!”

“But if this is happening now. Why was it delayed to begin with?” Darien asked

Pluto sighed again, “That is something I cannot answer.”

“So are we screwed?” Rini asked

“Only time will tell.” Pluto responded sadly.

With Harkua and Michiru-

Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune sat in the tree that overlooks the temple. They have heard everything that was explained. But they could not disobey the Queen. They only had one day to get them or they would be wanted too.

“Well what do we do?” Haruka asked looking down at the temple, “If Serena says that we have to turn in the traitors then that means Setsuna is one also.”

Michiru watched them alongside her partner, “I don’t know Haruka. I don’t know this time.”

Haruka sighed and looked away to see, “Hotaru?!”

Michiru looked to see their adopted daughter running up to the temple stairs, “What is she doing here?”

Before Haruka could come up with an answer Serena’s voice came to them, “What are you doing?! Did you find them?!”

“Yes we did but Hotaru is in there with them.” Michiru explained

“Then take her too. If she is siding with them then she too is a traitor.” Serena’s angry voice rang in their heads

“But Hotaru is like our daughter. Please give us a chance to prove that she is with us.” Haruka pleaded

They could almost see Serena roll her eyes and gave a frustrated sigh, “Fine have it your way. But you still have one day to bring them to me. And remember if you fail then your heads will be mine. And if she is not with us then she’s against us. Don’t fail me.”

The Outer Sailors sighed. They had to make a choice…but what is the right one?