“Yeah, he yelled at us in front of everyone!” “Because you’ve been failing?” “Yes! That and the fact that you’re never around anymore!” Tigers Eye snapped. Fish took a sip of her drink. “As a matter of fact, he wanted to talk to you when you got back.” “Did he?” Hawks Eye crossed his arms. “Well, I’ll go to him later.” “You’ll go to him now,” said an unknown voice. The trio looked behind them and saw one of the weight lifters standing there. He walked over to them and grabbed Hawk’s arm. “You’re wanted too,” he said to Tiger and Fish. The weight lifter disappeared with Hawks Eye and the others followed. In the center ring of the circus tent, Hawk was literally dropped off and the others appeared next to him. Zirconia appeared in his stand with Zircon. The trio silently stood there waiting for him to speak. “Well,” he said, “it looks like Hawks Eye decided to show himself for once. Where have you been?” The trio could tell by the tone of his voice he was not a happy camper. “Well, sir…I was…umm,” Hawks Eye didn’t know what to say. If I tell him where I’ve really been, then who knows what he’ll do, he thought. “So, you’re telling me you’re not going to tell me. So perhaps one of you’re friends will,” snickered Zirconia. “Tigers Eye, why don’t you tell me what’s been happening back stage.” Tigers Eye was shocked. He glanced at Hawk who was pleading to him not to tell. “Let me put it this way,” said Zirconia, “one of you either tells me or I’ll destroy you all!” Tigers Eye really didn’t want that to happen, so he spoke slowly, “Well, you see…Hawks Eye was looking for the target…” He looked over a Hawk who was looking at the floor. He continued, “and something happened that I’m not exactly sure of, but he…fell in love with some girl and has been seeing her and that’s why he hasn’t been here,” he finished quickly. Zirconia still had the same face as before. “I know about that,” he said. “I just wanted to hear you say it. I’ve been watching Hawks Eye.” Zircon started showing clips of Hawk and Lita walking, kissing and having fun. The whole circus crew started laughing. Chants such as “Hawks Eye is a flirt” and “How could you sink so low as to go out with a human?” A tear ran down his face, and Tiger saw this. Suddenly Hawk had trouble breathing. He screamed out in pain. Fish and Tiger looked up to see Zirconia twisting his hand. “Stop master! Please stop,” yelled Tiger. Zirconia did so and Hawk fell to the ground. “Now, I want you to start paying attention to your work! Either do so or I’ll do that to you again; and this time I won’t let go.” Zirconia disappeared. Tiger and Fish took Hawk back to the bar. Hawks Eye was in a sort of trance. He wouldn’t say a word. Tiger felt really bad about telling Zirconia about Hawks Eye’s secret love. “Hawks Eye, I’m really very sorry about what I did. I didn’t know what to do.” Tiger waited for some sort of reaction, but there wasn’t any. Hawk still stared into space. Fish got up and sat on the stool next to Hawk. “Tigers Eye didn’t mean to tell, Hawk,” she said. “But you do know it was for yours and our own good, right?” No answer. “Look, Hawk. We’re both really sorry. However, you just can’t sit there and not say a word for the rest of your life. You need to tell your girlfriend the truth.” Hawks Eye closed his eyes. “I know you don’t want to,” Fish continued, “but we’ll all be better off. You do know that if Zirc the Jerk finds you girl, then he’ll probably kill her. Then you’ll be blaming yourself forever. You do understand what I’m saying, don’t you?” Hawks Eye gave a deep sigh. He put his glass to his mouth, but didn’t drink anything. He put it down and looked straight ahead again. “How do I tell her? I don’t want to lose her.” “You’ll just have to come out and say who you really are and what you’ve been doing,” said Tigers Eye. “I can’t do that! You guys just don’t understand. Lita means everything to me. I don’t think I’ll be able to live without her.” “Hawks Eye you need to do this. Zirconia will kill you! You heard him,” said Fish. Hawks Eye knew that she was right. He didn’t want Lita to get hurt on the account of him. He gave another sigh, and got up. “Where are you going,” asked Tiger. “To meet Lita,” he said and jumped into his portal. Hawks Eye was walking slowly down the street, trying to think of an easy way to tell Lita that he was an Amazon, but he still loved her. He walked by a jewelry store and something in the window caught his eye. Sitting in a black case was a gold bracelet with hearts on it. He thought how pretty it would look on Lita’s wrist. He walked into the store and asked the clerk if he could have a better look at it. When the clerk handed it to him, he examined it. Besides the hearts, there were the letters “I” and “You” separated by a red colored heart. “I’ll take it,” he said. * * * Lita walked out of the front doors of the high school. He looked around for Hawk, who wasn’t in site. She walked past the gates of the school, and saw pink hair peeking behind a tree. She put on a smile and quickly walked over to him. He was leaning against the tree looking at the ground. “Hey,” she said, “what’s up?” “Oh, Lita. I didn’t see you there.” “Is something bothering you?” “Well, yes, but…Lita, let’s go for a walk.” They walked to their normal spot in the park. It was by a pond that had a small fountain in the middle. They walked over to a bench and sat down. Hawk looked at a swan on the pond. Lita looked at the same swan, then she looked at Hawk. “So what’s been troubling you?” Oh, how do I tell her? he thought. “Lita, before I say anything, I want you to know that I love you more than anything in the world.” Lita blushed, “I love you too, Hawk.” “I have something very important to tell you. This isn’t going to be easy to say, but you need to know.” Lita looked into his eyes waiting to hear what he had to say. “Well,” she said. Hawk took a deep breath and started: “Well, I haven’t told you my whole story. I’m not a college student, I don’t live in a cool apartment, and…” “And?” “I’m not who you think I am, Lita.” Lita was shocked to be hearing this. “Then what are you,” she asked. Hawk took another deep breath. “I’m a circus performer at the Dead Moon Circus.” “You work in the circus? How cool! I knew there was something you were hiding from me. Why didn’t you tell me before? I think it’s a really cool profession.” “Lita, that’s not the whole story.” “I’m listening,” she said. Lita wasn’t the only one who was listening. Mina saw Lita and Hawk walking, and just to be her nosy self, she followed them to their present spot and hid herself in the bushes behind the bench, able to hear everything that was being said. “The Dead Moon Circus isn’t just an ordinary circus,” Hawk explained, “We’re not only here to perform for people, we’re here to…” “Here to what?” Hawk knew that his next couple of words would be the start of the end of their relationship. “We also…look for beautiful dreams; one in particular that contains a flying horse named Pegasus.” Lita gasped. He was an enemy! I’ve been going out with the enemy! She stood up and turned to him. “You attack innocent people, look at their dreams, and attempt to end their dreaming for good!” “I know. I’m very sorry, Lita. You don’t know how hard it was to come and tell you this.” Tears formed in Lita’s eyes. “So I bet I’m a target too. Right!? Well, go on. Say it! Look at my dreams! Do what you came here to do,” she shouted at him. The tears were running down her cheeks now. “I did do what I came here to do. I had to tell you this, Lita. I didn’t want to see you get hurt. I was threatened to tell you this, or you would be killed.” Hawk also formed tears that started escaping his eyes. “Well, you failed. I am hurt. I don’t ever want to see you again!” “Lita! Please!” But it was too late. Lita was already running away from him. He fell to his knees and tightly griped the grass. He choked as he silently cried. Mina couldn’t believe what she just heard. Lita was actually in love with the enemy, but he seemed to love her. She peered between the branches of the bush. She saw him crying. He did love her, she thought. Mina heard a weird laugh coming out of nowhere. She looked around to see a shadowy figure doing cartwheels. She started getting bad vibes a about this person. The figure stopped a few yards away from Lita’s boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend now, she guessed. Hawks Eye heard the mysterious laugh. He jumped up and turned around to find someone doing cartwheels. The figure stopped in front of him and turned from a shadow figure into a weird looking clown. The clown laughed and introduced himself. “Howdy! I’m the Crazy Cat Clown! And I’m here to put you out of your misery Amazon!” The clown did another cartwheel and jumped into the air, then landing on one foot. “Ta da!” Mina heard what the clown said and sneaked away. She ran into the direction that Lita took. As she ran, she called the other scouts telling them she needed help. * * * Fish Eye and Tigers Eye were sitting at the bar, waiting for Hawks Eye to return. They heard someone say, “Amazon Trio! The Grand Zirconia wants to talk to you!” They went to the center ring of the tent where Zirconia waited. “I’m glad to see that the whole team showed up this time,” he said. Tiger and Fish looked around thinking that Hawks Eye had come back, but he was nowhere to be seen. “What do you mean, Grand Zirconia?” “I meant exactly what I said. The whole team showed up.” The two were still confused. “You don’t get it do you,” asked Zirconia, “Well, let me spell it out for you. The two of you are now a team. You are no longer part of the Amazon Trio. Your new name is the Amazon ‘Duo’.” “But Master Zirconia,” said Fish Eye, “Hawks Eye is our third team member. What about him? Are you putting him by himself or something?” “No, Fish Eye. Hawks Eye is no longer a part of the Dead Moon Circus. Let’s just say…he’s been retired.” Zirconia gave a half smile. Tiger and Fish looked at each other and knew what had happened. “Excuse us, Master,” they said and vanished into the portals. “Excellent,” said Zirconia, “they took the bait.” * * * “Well, I say we start the show,” said the clown. Hawks Eye transformed into his circus apparel. He watched the clown jump around like crazy. What is he doing? Finally the clown froze, and then lifted his arm up. Hawks Eye went flying into the air and floated there. “Remember what it’s like to soar?” The clown giggled. He waved his arm around, making Hawk fly around against his will. Then Crazy Cat put his arm down to his side, therefore making Hawk fall to the ground. Hawk lied on his back for a moment the started to get up. When he got back onto his feet, he felt something tight around him. He looked down to see a rope holding his arms to his sides. The rope became tighter and tighter. Hawk fell on one knee; he could barely breathe. Then two portals opened and out came Tigers Eye and Fish Eye. They immediately saw Hawk tied up. They started going towards him when they ran into something. Fish got up and put her arm out. “It’s an invisible wall,” she said. “Don’t try to get to him now. You’ll spoil our fun!” The clown started laughing loudly. * * * Mina continued to run as fast as she could. She had transformed into Sailor Venus as to not waste time later. She finally spotted Lita slowly walking ahead of her. “Lita,” she yelled. Lita looked behind her and stopped when she saw Venus. “What do you want?” Lita asked in a depressed tone. Venus bent over, trying to catch her breath. “Lita, Hawk…he’s in trouble. You need to come quick!” “I don’t care about him. Just leave me alone.” Venus stood up again and put a hand on Lita’s shoulder. “Lita, listen to me.” I heard what he said to you. I know it must of hurt, but he did it in order to protect you. He truly loves you!” “No he doesn’t. He was pretending to love me so he could look at my dreams.” “You know that’s not true! Lita, when you left he broke down crying! He’s still there, but some weird clown attacked him, and he’s in serious trouble.” Lita looked at her. She realized that she shouldn’t have been so unforgiving. She immediately transformed into Sailor Jupiter. Before Venus could realize what happened, Jupiter was already running way ahead of her. * * * Crazy Cat Clown continued to tighten the rope around Hawks Eye. Then out of nowhere, he heard a shout he couldn’t make out and a lightning bolt flew across freeing Hawks Eye. Hawk fell to the ground, gasping for air. “Hey! Who did that?” The clown looked around him. “I did! I’m going to let you hurt him!” Sailor Jupiter jumped out in front of Hawks Eye. “Who are you?” “It’s a Sailor scout,” said Tigers Eye to Fish. Fish looked closely at Jupiter. “It’s the girl Hawks Eye loves.” Jupiter ignored the clown’s question and turned to Hawk. She knelt down and helped him sit up. “Are you okay?” Hawk was dazed for a moment. “What are you doing here? Lita? Is that you?” Lita nodded. “I’m so sorry Hawk…” “No, I’m sorry Lita.” Crazy Cat frowned on the site. “Hey! You’re not paying attention to me! I won’t stand for it!” He opened his hand and a spade appeared in it. He raised his arm back and threw the spade towards Jupiter and Haws Eye. “Look out!” Exclaimed Fish. Lita pushed Hawk to the ground and she landed next to him. The spade barely missed them. She looked up, making sure the coast was clear. She stood up and threw a lightning bolt at the clown, who absorbed it in his hand. Lita growled to herself. Hawks Eye stood up. He watched as the two threw lightning blots and spades at each other. “Enough of this game,” said the clown. When Lita attacked him again, he threw a spade at the same time. The spade came straight towards her. Suddenly, she fell to the ground. She looked up and saw Hawk standing where she stood. He was like frozen. Lita’s eyes became big and her mouth opened. She heard one of the spectators yell, “Hawks Eye!” Hawks Eye collapsed. Lita crawled over to him lifting his head in her lap. The other Sailors arrived at the same time Hawk pushed Lita out of the way. “We’re too late you guys,” said Mars. “Hawk! Hawk! Why?” Lita looked at the wound in his chest. “I didn’t want you to get hurt. I couldn’t live without you.” He closed his eyes for a moment then re-opened them. “I’m sorry I lied to you, Lita. It wasn’t easy to tell you the truth. I truly do love you.” Tears ran down Lita’s face. “I know…I know. I’m sorry too.” Tiger and Fish appeared next to Lita. They knelt down next to Hawk. Fish lifted his hand in hers. “Hawks Eye,” she said. “I’m sorry, guys. You got in trouble because of me.” “Forget about that,” said Tiger. “Hang in there, Hawks Eye,” said Fish. He smiled at them, then looked at Lita. “I never would’ve guessed you were a sailor scout.” “I lied to you too, Hawk.” Hawk gave a slight cry of pain as he shifted his weight. He raised his hand up and a gold bracelet appeared in it. “Here,” he said to Lita. “I got this for you.” She took the bracelet and viewed it. It was so pretty. “Thank-you so much, Hawk. I’ll cherish it forever.” Hawks Eye smiled again, and his eyes slowly shut. “Hawk?” said Lita. When he didn’t respond, her eyes immediately filled with tears. “Hawks Eye,” said Tiger and Fish at the same time. “No!” cried Lita. She bent down and held his head. “Hawk! Don’t leave me…” The Sailor scouts watched the scene, tears also forming in their eyes. Crazy Cat laughed hard. “Well, one down, two to go!” When Lita heard this she fiercely looked up at him. She laid Hawk gently down on the ground, got up and started walking over towards the clown, who was jumping up and down. “You think it’s funny? You killed him! I loved him and you killed him! You are not going to get away with it!” Lita sent out a powerful lightning bolt that was right on target for the clown. He got up and acted like he was on dope. “Sailor Moon! Do your thing, quick!” Sailor Mini Moon called for Pegasus, and Sailor Moon used her Moon Gorgeous Meditation on the evil clown. When he was gone for good, the scouts walked over to the trio. Mercury knelt down to Hawk’s side and put her ear to his mouth. “He’s still breathing,” she said. Lita raced over and lifted his head again. “You’re right! He still has a chance!” “We need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible,” Mercury said. * * * Tigers Eye, Fish Eye, Lita, and the others sat in the waiting room of the hospital. They waited for a nurse or doctor to give them the news. It seemed like hours before a nurse finally appeared. “It’s a good thing you got him here so quickly,” she said. “Will he be alright?” asked Lita. “Yes, he’ll be fine. He’s resting now, but I’ll let a couple of you go in for a few minutes.” They all followed the nurse to the room Hawks Eye was in. She stopped and explained what they should expect. “He has a pretty bad wound. We have like a ton of bandages around him. We have an I.V. in his arm and an oxygen mask on his face. Don’t talk to loud if he wakes up. I’m sorry, but there isn’t enough room in there for all of you. So you’ll have to decide who goes in first.” That was easy for the scouts. The suggested that Lita and the Amazons go in, for they were the closest to Hawks Eye. The three walked in a saw what the nurse had said they would see. Hawks Eye was lying on his back, an oxygen mask over his mouth and an I.V. in his arm. Lita sat in the chair next to the bed and put her hand on his. There wasn’t a reaction, and she wasn’t expecting one. The Amazons walked to the other side of the bed. “He’s sleeping,” said Fish Eye. “We probably should just leave him alone so he can rest.” Tigers Eye nodded, but Lita said, “I’m staying here until he wakes up.” * * * It was around midnight, when Hawks Eye started to become conscious again. He stirred a bit, and slowly opened his eye. He looked at the environment, which was unfamiliar to him. By then, the oxygen mask was removed, so he didn’t know that he even had it on him. When he moved his hand, there was something heavy on it. He looked over to see a head with brown hair lying next to his hand, and the person’s hand was on his. Lita…he thought. He noticed something shiny on her wrist. It was the “I Love You” bracelet he had given her. He smiled and took hold of her hand. Lita wasn’t in a deep sleep, so when she felt something tighten around her hand, she woke up. Her eyes opened to see another hand holding hers. She sat up and looked at the face that was smiling at her. She became very excited and a big smile spread across her face. “Hawk,” she said. “You’re okay.” He nodded and she leaned over and gave him a big kiss. At that moment, Serena gently opened the door and popped her head in. “Lita,” she said, “I was wondering if you needed anything…” She noticed that Hawk’s eyes were opened. “Hey guys! He’s awake,” she called to the others outside. They all came scurrying in. “Hawks Eye!” said Fish. The Amazons pushed their way over to his side. “Hey,” Hawk said softly. His voice sounded very weak. “Were glad you’re okay,” said Ami. Ready for True Love 3 ?