Here's the next chapter of the series, entitled "How to Say Good Bye."
Though it is not my first attempt at writing fan fiction, it is my
first attempt in posting any of my work on the Net for others to
read. A note, I did change the name of the highschool where the
Scouts attend to something in English. I did change a little history,
all right? I respect the Japanese version very VERY much, but wanted
to change the name because it didn't fit in really with the English
names and such. I use everyone's Japanese last names except for
Amy's, which is Anderson. This story takes place after Sailor Stars,
when the Sailors graduate. Any constructive comments are welcome,
e-mail SlrUnico@aol.com! Enjoy!
~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~
Serena was flying through space and time...everything was dark and
purple looking, like a nightmare. The scariest part was the
silence...there wasn't a sound. Her body felt as light as air.
Finally she came to a stop.
Suddenly all of the evil beings she had known all her life,
Queen Beryl, Rubeus, Esmeraude, the Wiseman, Mistress 9, Galaxia,
and countless more appeared around her, laughing at her prediciment.
"No!" Serena screamed. "No, go away!"
Their voices and beings closed in around her. I can't
transform! she thought, frusteratingly attempting to again. It
cannot be, I can't transform! "I'm Sailor Moon!" she cried out.
"You can't, I'm Sailor Moon, I will defeat you!!!!"
"Think again, Moon twit!" snarled the reincarnation of Beryl.
"You're NOTHING without your friends," snarled a newly formed
Malachite.
"NOTHING!" cackled Esmeraude.
"No," she objected. "I do have my friends, they give me all my
strength!" To prove it she turned every direction she could and
began to shout. "AMY! LITA, MINA, RAYE!!! HARUKA, SOMEONE!!!"
Floating bubbles snapped into existence, hovering around her.
In one was a picture of Amy checking a person's temperature, decked
out in a starched doctoring outfit. In another was an image of Mina,
modeling for Sailor V. A third showed Lita as a world class chef.
The fourth was Raye talking to an older and more sophisticated
looking crowd. And the fifth contained scenes of the Outers doing
things they all wanted to do in life. All of the pictures were faded
and almost non de-script.
"Please!" Serena begged to the bubbles. "Come back together,
come here to me so that we can fight as one again, so we can defeat
the enemy!"
All of the bubble people ignored her and continued to do what
they had been doing. Serena sank to the floor. It's impossible, her
mind said. But it's true. Why didn't you see it Serena? The others
will have lives now, away from you. They will all move far away to
other parts of the world. You never saw it coming, the end of the
Sailor Scouts, Serena, the end of your group, your friends, your life.
You're being selfish, they need to follow their dreams. You cannot
expect them to stay in Tokyo just for you. Why didn't you see it,
you'll be alone now. Sailor Moon was made real by the power of your
friends. But they are splitting apart. The Sailor Scouts are dead.
"No!" Serena argued with herself. "No, RAYE! You have to hear
me!"
The Raye turned to her friend and looked coldly at her. "Serena,
you Meatball Head, get off the floor. We won't stay with you."
"We have our lives to deal with," added Mina.
"Our futures," said Lita.
"You're being selfish," whispered Amy.
"Get up!" hollered Raye. "Get up, get up, get up!"
"Raye!" said the Amy bubble, sounding more like Amy and less
like an uncaring image. "She's been through an ordeal. Don't be
so harsh. Give her some space!"
"I don't WANT space," Serena yelled. "I want you!"
The Lita image turned to the Mina. "She's delirious."
Luna's voice came out of no where. "Serena?"
"Serena?" Darien's voice joined the chorus. "Are you okay?"
The shadow of Rubeus came and tried to put his hand on her head.
Serena yanked herself away. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!" she screamed.
"Sorry!" snapped Raye's image.
"Not you, I mean Rubeus. He tried to touch me."
"Serena..." said the Lita bubble. "She's scaring me, guys."
"NO!" Serena sobbed, opening her eyes and lifting her head up.
"Huh?"
She looked around and saw she was not in the dream world and the
enemies were no where in sight. Instead her friends, Darien, and the
cats were crowded around her, worried looks on their faces. "Serena!"
said Lita in astonishment. "You're all right!"
Serena continued to look around, then laid her head back on what
appeared to be Lita's puffy chef hat and Mina's little jacket. They
were in a classroom, which was empty of anyone else. "I...had a
nightmare...thank God it's over."
Amy hugged her, tears in her own blue eyes. "Oh Serena, when
you fainted, everyone was so worried!"
"I fainted?"
Mina nodded. "Yeah, right after Amy's speech."
The event came back to Serena's mind and she closed her eyes as
if keeping them open was too much of a struggle for her. "Oh no...
that's right, now I remember it all."
Raye, looking half self satisfied and half concerned, was sitting
on the floor next to Serena. "I knew she looked green from the second
Amy got up there. If you'd have listened to me, she would have been
in here before she fainted, or at least sooner."
Darien was seated on Serena's other side. "Are you okay?" He
squeezed her hand which he had been holding. "We thought it was
really serious, especially after you called Raye, 'Rubeus'. It must
have been some dream."
She opened her eyes and tried to focus on everyone in the room.
"I...did have an awful one. All the enemies I had ever fought were
there with me, and I wanted the Scouts to help me. I couldn't
transform, and Beryl, well, she told me that I was nothing without
the others. Then bubble came with you all in them and in them
everyone was doing what they wanted to do with their lives, Lita was
cooking, Mina was modeling, Amy was doctoring, and that sort of
thing. For awhile you guys ignored me and then you said I was being
selfish." She stopped and sat up. "Maybe I am, but it's not a crime
for me to want you with me here when the next enemy comes ready to
fight."
Amy looked away. "But Serena...the enemies are gone. We
defeated them."
"That's what we thought after Beryl, then after Alan and Ann,
then after Rubeus, and after Hotaru's dad, and Mistress 9. But they
are ALWAYS going to keep coming and it's totally wrong to think it
won't happen again." Serena looked to the others for support.
"But Serena," Lita sighed. "We have to leave Tokyo eventually."
Mina had been silent the whole time. Now she looked at Serena
evenly and said, "I don't know if this is the best time to announce
this, but..." She took a deep breath. "I've accepted a modeling job
back in England."
Serena's facial expression was stilled. "Wha...at?"
Mina bit her lip and nodded. "I guess I'm leaving too."
"It's not possible!" cried Serena, the same thing she had said in
her dream, being unable to transform into Sailor Moon. It was
inconceivable to her just how she could lose either one of the most
important things in her life. One was her power, and the other,
which was more valuable, was her friends.
Serena shook her head violently. "No...no...I need you, we need
each other!" She grabbed Mina's shoulders. "You promised, remember
what you said on the last day of school?? You said, 'We'll always be
together.' You promised! Please, please keep it!"
Mina's eyes filled with tears and so did those of the others in
the room. "I'm so sorry, Serena. But I can't stay here all my life.
Just like if you got a scholarship you would go off to fulfill your
dreams. That's what me and Amy have to do."
Lita raised her hand. "Umm...I have a confession to make. I'm
going to study culinary at a college in the United States, New Orleans
Louisiana."
Serena looked from Lita, to Mina, to Amy, and then to Raye.
"Just out and out say it," she said bitterly. "You're going too."
Raye half nodded. "Yeah, Granpa's sending me to a shrine in the
mountains to complete my training as a priestess. It's something I've
always wanted to do," she added, seeing the hostile expression on
Serena's face.
"Aren't you going to say I'm being selfish!?"
"No!" Raye's nostrils flared and her eyes flashed. "I don't want
us to leave either. I want us to stay like this, here in Tokyo. This
is more that just about being Sailor Scouts. This is about our
friendship. I've never had friends as close as you...oh, Meatball
Head, stop crying for heaven's sake."
Serena hiccupped. "I can't help it, Raye. You four are the
best friends I've ever had since Molly at grammar school. Now
everyone is leaving me behind. Lita and Darien are going to the
United States, Mina is going to England, Raye is going to the
mountains, Am y is going to France, the Outers are already IN France.
What am I gonna do?"
The girls were crying openly, and Darien and the cats stepped
outside to give the girls more time alone. Lita blew her nose on a
tissue. "Serena, I remember the first day at school when we were 14.
I was new and everything, but you were my friend from the very start,
despite the rumors."
"Rumors?" asked Mina, trying to be lighthearted. "Quite a few
of those were true, Lita-chan."
Lita laughed through her tears and swatted Mina with her hand.
Then she turned back to Serena. "But seriously...all of you were my
friends. You don't find people like you guys often in the world.
That's how special the four of you are."
Raye was hugging Serena. "Remember when we met? I knocked you
out with an "evil spirits be gone!" charm!"
Serena nodded, but didn't crack a smile as the tears streamed
down her face. The girls together continued to recount the memorable
events that had happened in their time together, crying harder as the
memories in the room increased.
"We have to spend some time together," Lita insisted. "Before
any of us leave."
Amy shook her head sobbing. "I'm leaving tomorrow. The
internship starts in a few days for me."
"Amy!" exclaimed Mina. "Why didn't you say something??"
"I didn't want anyone to make a big deal out of it - "
Serena almost screeched. "Amy!! You should have said something
to us so we could have had more time together."
"I'm sorry...I wasn't thinking..."
"It's not your fault," Raye said sadly. "I'm leaving tomorrow
too on the train."
Both Raye and Amy hugged each other tightly. They had been the
first two Scouts with Serena, and for a very long time before Jupiter
was activated, and felt as if they had been through the most with
Sailor Moon together.
Lita pounded her hand on the floor to let out her grief. "I
won't be able to stand us breaking apart. I know I'm going to break
down!"
"Just promise," Serena cried, "that you'll try not to forget
me...us."
"Oh Serena!" sobbed all of the girls as they piled together for
a group hug.
"I promise," said Lita, the sound muffled against Mina's shoulder.
"I'll never forget anything."
"I promise," continued Amy. "I won't forget Serena, Lita, Mina,
or Raye, or Luna, or Artemis, or Tuxedo Mask, or anyone that we have
ever fought against or with."
"I promise," said Mina solemnly. "I'll always remember what we
shared."
"I promise," vowed Raye. "I will never forget my friends."
"And I," said Serena in a cleared voice, shining through the
tears. "As God as my witness, I swear I won't forget the Sailor
Scouts, the best friends anyone could ever have. We make the world a
better place, for us, for the world, and you certainly made it better
for me."
All five stayed like that for a long time, afraid to say good-bye
because it would make the reality more real. And afraid to pretend
that nothing had happened, because something did.
It's true, the Sailor Soliders are breaking up. In the fifth and
final chapter the Scouts tearfully say good bye to each other
including a most heartfelt one between Serena and who she reveals to
be her best friend out of them all...that and more in "Parting Ways -
Sailor Farewell". e-mail SlrUnico@aol.com to comment.
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