Hello, and welcome back.  I'm assuming you've read the first part of
Universal B, and probably Universal, or you're going to be very lost.
Standard disclaimers are those pesky little things that always apply but
are rarely written out.  Thanks go to Doug and Will, because without
them, this chapter would not be nearly so good.  Thanks also to
everybody that writes me at Jendra@aol.com.

Enjoy!


Sailor Moon Universal B

Chapter 8:  Into the Darkness

Darien and Travis were still talking as they headed back to Travis'
house.

"Tell me about Crystal," Darien asked.

"Crystal, hmm?" Travis said thoughtfully.  "Well, she's pretty, but
that's not really what drew her to me.  She's... daring.  She'll try
anything, doesn't seem to be afraid to do anything.  She seems
interested in everything, always curious.  I like that about her.  She
wants to learn by doing, and she wants to learn everything.  She'd never
learned to swim, but when I took her to the pool she dove right in, and
worked at it until she got it right.  Then she got up onto the diving
board."  Travis shook his head at the memory.

"So?" Darien grinned, "How did she look in her bathing suit?"

Travis laughed and punched him in the side.  "Do you think I looked at
her that way?  Me?  I am too pure, too innocent, too much a gentleman."
He looked at his blood brother, "Too much afraid of what she'd do to me
if she caught me looking."

Darien stopped and looked at him.

"One guy at the pool said something she did not approve of.  She kicked
him in a very... indelicate place.  Everyone else got the hint."  Travis
had a pained expression on his face.

Darien sympathized with him.

"Of course, it would be interesting to hear what Serena thinks of you
asking me that question."  Travis turned and grinned again.

"You wouldn't?" Darien accused.

"Oh, probably not," Travis said.

"`Probably' not?  Little brother, you're skating on thin ice here,"
Darien was smiling as well.  These times with just the two of them were
rare.  Darien had work, college, being Tuxedo Mask, and spending time
with Serena.  Travis had to juggle school, both families, Sailor Sol,
and Crystal.  Although they were best friends, they weren't as close in
this time as they had been before, and they knew it.  And neither of
them was happy about it.

Travis changed the subject, "So, oh experienced brother, what should I
do to get her over being mad at me?"

"I've always found that kissing works wonders," Darien said slyly.

"Um... no, I don't think that would be a good idea right now," Travis
disagreed.  "Besides the fact that I've not really known her long
enough, she's more than likely to kill me than kiss me at the moment."

"She's not really that bad, is she?" Darien was surprised.

Travis thought about it for a while.  "Not really," he finally said
slowly.  "But... she gets jealous.   And she is prone to react first and
think later."

"Sounds familiar," Darien said thoughtfully.

Now it was Travis' turn to look at him in surprise.  "Serena's not that
bad!  Or were you talking about Raye?"

"Oh, you know about that?" Darien said.  "Yes, Raye got jealous, but no,
I was talking about Serena.  For a long time, she was jealous of Reenie,
because I would pay more attention to her than to Serena.  She's matured
a lot, but it still happens every once in a while.  She'll take
something I say the wrong way, or draw the wrong conclusions."  He
laughed.  "Serena can jump to conclusions faster than anyone I've ever
met."

"I haven't really noticed that in her," Travis frowned.  "She can be a
little impulsive, especially if she's mad, but jumping to conclusions?"

"She once thought that Andrew was in love with her because he said he
liked her the way she was when she thought she was getting fat," Darien
replied with a quirk of his eyebrow.

"Arcade Andrew?" Travis blinked.

"Yep, she and Lita had `such' a crush on him.  And she was convinced he
felt the same way.  All he was trying to do was make sure she ate well
and got off that crash diet she was on."  Darien shook his head.

"So she had a crush on Andrew and you?"

"No," Darien laughed, "this was before we knew about that.  She had a
crush on Andrew and Tuxedo Mask, but she couldn't stand me.  I think
conceited jerk was the nicest thing she called me."

"You're kidding!" Travis said, laughing as well.

"No, I'm not.  If fate was bringing us together, it wasn't doing a very
good job.  She kept hitting me with things, or running into me.  Not
exactly the best way to make a good impression."

"Neither is running out on your date," Travis sighed, reminded of the
reason this conversation started.

"Well, you can always try flowers," Darien remarked.  "Roses work well,
even for people that aren't in love with people who throw them."

"She'll still want an explanation, and I don't have one to give her,"
Travis sighed.

"You'll think of something," Darien clapped him on the shoulder.
"You're good at that."

"Is that a compliment?" Travis asked wryly.  "The problem is, she's
already jealous of the amount of time I spend with Serena.  And whatever
happens, I don't want her jealous of Serena.  More jealous that is, she
already dislikes her I think."

"That could be a problem," Darien said seriously.

"I know," Travis agreed soberly.  "I don't want to break up with her
over something like that, but I might have to."

Darien decided to change the subject.  "I wonder how Mina is doing," he
asked absently.

"Better," Travis replied immediately, not even thinking about it.
"Serena's not in too good a shape though."

Travis stopped as he heard his own words.  He had a very quizzical
expression on his face as he tried to figure out why he had said that.
"It's true," he said very thoughtfully.  "I felt a surge of relief
coming from her, not too long ago.  That doesn't happen very often, our
bond isn't usually that strong.  Right now..." he grew silent again as
he tried to understand the feelings he was getting from his sister.
"Guilty," he finally said.  "She feels guilty."

"You can feel her emotions?" Darien asked, extremely surprised.  "I
didn't think you're bond had gotten that far."

"Neither did I," Travis agreed slowly.  "Normally I can't feel her
unless she's feeling something very strongly.  Like fear, which you can
get too, right?"

Darien nodded.

"I can see why she would be feeling relief if Mina was alright, but why
guilt?" Travis thought out loud.

"Because it was saving her that Mina got hurt," Darien answered
immediately.  "And we should have been expecting it."

"Then we'll just have to go over there and convince her it's not her
fault," Travis said, turning to walk in the other direction.

"Not us," Darien disagreed.  "If she's as deep in guilt as you say, I
don't think she'd want to see anyone that was in the fight."  He raised
his communicator to his lips.  "Amy?"

"Yes?" came back from the communicator.

"How's Mina?"

"She's going to be fine, she just had a concussion, which is what
knocked her out.  She's staying at the hospital tonight for observation
and is going home tomorrow," Amy answered authoritatively.

Travis and Darien both gave sighs of relief.  It felt good to get
outside confirmation.

"Serena's feeling really guilty about Mina getting hurt, do you think
you could go over there and talk to her?" Darien asked next.

"Of course I can," Amy answered immediately.  "Let me check on Mina one
more time, and then I'll go."

"Thanks, Amy," Darien said gratefully.

"I love her too, you know," was Amy's answer.


Serena sat silently, curled up in the front seat for the rest of the
drive to Raye's temple.  She was still silent as the car reached the
Tsukino's garage.  Mr. Tsukino was worried to notice that she was
sitting there with dry eyes.  It wasn't like her.  She should have been
bawling her eyes out, or talking a mile a minute to get her mind off of
what had happened, not just sit there quietly.

"Serena," he said quietly.  "What's wrong?"

Serena just looked at him with eyes full of hopelessness and despair.
Mr. Tsukino pulled her into a hug.  "It's alright," he murmured, rubbing
his hand down her back.  "Mina's going to be alright, you'll see.  You
heard Dr. Mizuno, she's going to be just fine and is going home
tomorrow."

Serena told him the only truth she could.  "If it hadn't been for me,
she wouldn't have been at the amusement park," she said, hugging him
fiercely before bolting out of the car.  She ran inside before he could
say anything more.

"What happened?" Ellen asked as soon as he came in.  "Serena just ran
upstairs, she didn't even stop to tell me what had happened."

"From what I understand," Ken said looking up the stairs.  "Mina got
hurt in a youma attack, and Serena is blaming herself because it was her
idea to go to the amusement park."

"Oh, dear, I'll go see if I can do anything," Ellen said, going up the
stairs.  She remembered how scared Serena had been that something would
happen to Reenie, and knew that she must be feeling it a hundred times
worse now.  She entered the room to find Serena curled up on the bed,
holding a pillow.  Reenie was next to her, looking at her worriedly.

Mrs. Tsukino closed the door firmly behind her.

"What's wrong, Grandma?  She won't tell me!" Reenie said fearfully.
Serena hadn't even seemed to see her when she had come in, flopped down
on the bed and curled up into a ball.  Both Reenie and Luna had tried to
get her to tell them what was wrong but she hadn't responded, just
stared into space with a blank expression on her face.

"I'm not entirely sure," Mrs. Tsukino said quietly.  "Serena," she
commanded, "Tell me about the fight tonight."

"There was a fight, and nobody told me?" Reenie asked in disbelief.  A
glare from her grandmother cut her off.  She subsided with a muttered,
"I should have been there."

`That' got a reaction.  "No, you shouldn't have!" Serena snapped,
uncoiling and glaring at her.  "You shouldn't be in `any' fight!  And
you won't be, not again!"  Reenie drew back from the onslaught and
opened her mouth to argue but Serena overrode her.  "I am not going to
take a chance on you being hurt like..." she trailed off and her eyes
went unfocused again.

"Like Mina was," her mother filled in the silence.

"What happened to Mina?" Luna, Diana, and Reenie asked in unison.

Mrs. Tsukino ignored them.  "Your father said you thought it was your
fault," she continued.

"It was!" Serena said almost savagely.  "`I' was the one that convinced
them they could still help, still fight.  If it wasn't for me, she never
would have thrown herself at the youma like that.  Which," she continued
in the same tone of voice, "she did to save `me'!"

"Serena," Luna spoke up, "you can't blame yourself for that."

"Yes I can," Serena replied.  "They were ready to give up, not fight any
more, until I convinced them to keep going.  I convinced them to keep
fighting, so it's my fault she's hurt!"

"I don't understand," Reenie admitted.

"Serena's saying that if she hadn't talked to Mina about fighting, she
wouldn't have tried to fight, and gotten hurt," Ellen explained.

"Does that mean it's my fault, too?" Reenie asked her seriously.

Ellen responded to that, "No, of course it wasn't your fault!  Why would
you think it was?"

"'Cause I was the one that told her the first time.  I was the one that
first told her she couldn't stop fighting because she couldn't
transform."

"Now you're being silly," Diana piped up.  "If you want to blame
someone, why not the bad guys?"

"Because the bad guys aren't here," Luna told her.

"So?  If they're not here, can't you go there?" Diana asked curiously.

"Because I'm not going to let anymore of my friends and family get
hurt," Serena told her.  "I'm `not' going to let that happen!  But no,
Reenie, it's not your fault.  I told you, the blame belongs to me."

"Serena," her mother put in.  "You know your friends.  Do you really
think Mina would have stood by and let you be hurt at any time?  Whether
you'd convinced her she could fight or not?"

"She's right," Luna said, going up and nuzzling her face.  "Mina would
have tried to help regardless of the fact that she couldn't transform.
It's the way she is.  It's what makes her a Scout."

"Think of it this way," her mother said.  "If you couldn't transform,
and Reenie was in danger, what would you do?"

"She'd try to help me," Reenie interjected immediately.

"And we both know that's true," Ellen agreed.  "I saw you throw yourself
across Reenie when that glass shattered.  You weren't transformed then."

"Kind of like what Reenie did?" Diana spoke up.  "When she tried to kill
that youma with her moonbeam?  She would have attacked even if she
didn't have it, I could tell."

"Oh, yeah, I did," Reenie remembered.  She saw the way Serena was
looking at her and grinned uneasily.  "I was very angry," she admitted.

"But she shouldn't have!  Neither of them!"

"You mean she shouldn't have to," another voice put in.  Everyone looked
up in surprise to see Amy standing in the doorway.  She walked forward
and settled down on the overcrowded bed.

"Amy?  What are you doing here?" Serena said in surprise.

"I reached the hospital a couple of minutes after you left," Amy said.
"I checked on Mina. Mother's right, she's going to be fine."

"That still doesn't..."

Amy interrupted her gently.  "Yes it does," she said.  "Serena, you are
our princess, and we'll protect you to the best of our abilities whether
we're Scouts or not.  You're also our friend, and that's why we'll do it
willingly, even gladly."

"But I don't want you to!" Serena almost yelled, just remembering to
keep her voice down so her father wouldn't hear.

"It's not your decision to make, Serena," Amy replied.  "You know what
we're saying is true, Serena.  It is `not' your fault."

"It's the baddies fault," Diana agreed.

"They're the ones that started this whole thing," Reenie put in.  "If
they hadn't changed the future..."

"If only there was a way we could get the pens back," Luna added.  "Then
we would have a whole team again, and really be able to handle the
Negaverse."

"So why don't you get them back?" Mrs. Tsukino asked.

"Because they're in the Negaverse," Serena replied.  "And without a
warp, we can't go there, and we don't have a warp."

"Make one," Diana suggested.

"It's not that simple, Diana," Amy replied, before she stopped as a
thought hit her, "Or is it?"  She pulled out her computer and started
typing.  Everyone else, even Serena, watched curiously.

"There might be a way," Amy said to herself, pulling up and old program
she had used to try to create a warphole, back when they had first been
fighting the Negaverse.  They hadn't been able to make one then, but
now... She quickly added in information regarding the Crystal Time Key,
the Sun Stone, and the Earth Gem.  Her eyes brightened at the answer she
got.

"We might be able to do it," she said.  "I need to do a couple more
calculations, but I think it might be possible."

"We can go after them?" Reenie said enthusiastically.  Serena didn't
look too happy with that question.

"You can get the pens back?" Diana cheered.

"No one else will have to get hurt?" was Serena's question.

Ellen was silent, her mind already worrying about her daughter going
into that... place.  It was sure to be dangerous, and she wanted nothing
more then to tell Serena not to go, but she knew that that wouldn't
work, nor did she have the right.

"I'm going to go home and work on this," Amy said.  "You," she pointed
at Serena, "stop worrying about things you have no control over, and get
some sleep.  We've still got school in the morning."

"School?" Serena gasped.  "Oh, no!  I haven't done my homework!"  She
turned to look at Amy.  "Thanks," she said.

"Don't thank me," Amy said as she walked out the door.  "Darien and
Travis were the ones that told me to come over here.  They said you
needed me."

"Thanks, all of you," she said, looking around at her family sitting on
the bed.  Ellen was a little disturbed as she watched her daughter seem
to get back to normal.  Something wasn't right, though she wasn't quite
sure what.  Still, it looked as if Serena wasn't going to talk anymore
about it that night, so Ellen dropped a kiss on her daughter's head, and
gave Reenie a hug, then left the room.

After Amy and her mother had left Serena's room, she got up and finished
her homework.  Reenie and Luna made several attempts to get her to talk,
but she didn't seem to hear them.  At bed time, instead of giving Reenie
a hug and then flopping across the bed, taking up most of the room, she
just curled up in a little ball next to the wall.  She didn't even
respond to Reenie's quiet good night.  Reenie tried to snuggle up next
to her mother, but she just pulled away and wrapped her arms tighter
around herself.

"Mommy?" she whispered quietly.  Serena didn't answer.

Reenie stayed awake for as long as she could, worrying.  Then she
finally drifted off to sleep.  When she woke up in the morning, she
smiled in relief to find Serena curled up next to her as usual.


In the Negaverse, Quartz looked over the footage of the latest battle.
*Well, that's interesting,* she thought.  *Maybe this information will
allow me to visit my father.* Her thoughts turned to the news she'd
gleaned from the servants today.  Her father hadn't been in public sight
for the last two days, the people were starting to wonder.  *If they've
hurt him...* she fumed.

The door of her room hit the wall with an ear splitting bang.  Quartz
automatically grabbed for her knife, only to remember it wasn't there
anymore.  The man who came in was one of Spessarite's captains, a human
looking one, except for his hair, which was the color of blood.

The captain smiled evilly as he walked slowly around the girl.  She
realized she had been following him with her eyes, and jerked them back
to the task in front of her.  There was no way she'd give him the
pleasure of having him think she was scared of him.

"The Lord General wants to know what you've discovered about the pens,"
he said silkily.  "He's tired of waiting."

"Lord General?" Quartz asked, trying hard to keep a straight face and
failing.  "Spaghetti's calling himself Lord General now?  What's next?
Lord Vader?"

"What?" the Captain asked, confused.  Then he noticed the glint in her
eyes.  "You dare to mock the Lord General?" he thundered, moving quickly
towards her.  She jumped up onto the table, surreptitiously grabbing one
of the pens while he wasn't looking.

"Why not?" she asked, laughing in his face.  "Most of his troops do.  As
for Lord Vader, he was a much cooler villian than old Spaghetti could
ever be."

The captain threw an energy blast at her, almost catching her as she
jumped out of the way.  She hadn't been expecting that from him.  The
blast caught the scrying globe she'd been using to watch the fights.

"Oh, that's good," she said sarcastically.  "Take away my main way of
helping your glorious master.  I'm sure he'll be very happy at the way
you're helping him."

The blood-haired man clicked his fingers twice.  Two youmas came into
the room.  Quartz tried to fake them out, but it took a lot less time
for them to catch her than she had hoped.  In a little more than a
minute, she was standing in front of him, trying to look defiant.

"So, you think it's fun to play games, do you?" he asked silkily.
Quartz didn't make a sound, just looked him in the eye in defiance.  His
hand flashed out, faster than she expected.  She didn't have time to
brace herself before the blow hit, and could feel tears trying to go to
her eyes as the pain exploded from her midsection.  Still she didn't
make a sound.  It was one thing she had learned early, before she
learned how to fight.  Bullies prefer victims that show their fear.  She
refused to give him that satisfaction.

After several more hits, the captain gave up in disgust.  An absent
gesture sent the two youmas out of the room.  "What have you found about
these?" he asked again, sweeping the four pens into his hands.

"Nothing," Quartz remarked, tossing her hair over her shoulder, trying
to be nonchalant.  "I haven't discovered anything, and won't until he
let's me see my father."

"Oh, you don't want to see your father," he said with an evil chuckle.
"The Lord General was a bit annoyed with him," he grinned at the girl.
"He got tired of having to deal with a recalcitrant emperor, so your
father's going through a little... attitude readjustment.   I would
suggest that you have one without the... measures necessary for the,"
his smile got wider, "Emperor."

He turned his head and listened.  "The Lord General is calling me," he
said.  "You're lucky, this time."  He turned and walked toward the door.
"You'd better have something for the General soon, or you know what will
happen," he sighed airily.  "It was so much easier when the Queen was
here, just into the brainwashing chamber.  It's much more difficult now,
much more... painful."  He smiled as he headed out the door.

"Enjoy yourself with your Lord, Garnite," Quartz called as the door
closed.  As soon as he had stopped looking at her, she had moved.  She
was over by the back wall, smiling.

Captain Garnite stared back at the insolent girl.  "You need to be
taught some manners.  I think I will ask the 'Lord General' if I could
be allowed to do it."

Quartz stayed quiet.  She knew she had pushed about as far as it was
possible to at this moment.  Garnite finally turned and walked out.
"This isn't over," he called back over his shoulder, "and when I come
back, you will tell me how you managed to find out my name."  His voice
was low and almost oozed threat.  "And you will learn never to say it
again."  He left.

*I've got to save my father,* she thought quietly to herself.  She took
out the one pen she had managed to hide.  *I hope this works.* "Disguise
Power! Change me into a youma!" Nothing happened.  "No!" she cried out
loud.  "Why didn't it work?"

Her mind went back over all she'd learned about the pen.  Nowhere was
there any mention of it being useful to only one person.  In fact,
several times it had been used by other people, especially spies of the
Queen of the Moon.  "Maybe... maybe it's too big a change?" she said
thoughtfully.  She held the pen up again.  "Disguise Power!  Change me
into a captain!" Once more, nothing happened.

"Come on!" she said, looking at it.  Once more she ran through
everything she had learned.  The Negaverse, especially the Palace, had
quite a large library about the Moon Kingdom and assorted powers.
Several denizens had seen the Pen in use, and all said the same words
had been spoken.  "Disguise Power worked for Sailor Moon, we have videos
of a person that had to be her. It worked for Sailor Mars when she had
been spying on Queen Beryl's Kingdom.  It worked for Sailor...  "That's
it," she whispered.  "It works for Sailors, not for me."

She drooped slightly, before firming her shoulders.  "Well, if it won't
disguise me, I'll just have to do it without its help."

Quartz checked once more to be sure that no one was looking into the
room, then opened a secret door next to her worktable.  She hadn't used
it before, because it only led to a hallway that was routinely patrolled
by youmas that knew she had no business being there.  Taking a deep
breath, she went to find her father.

Meanwhile, Spessarite and the captain were conferring.  "Our own
researchers have confirmed it.  The sword that yellow Scout was using
does hold the Sun Stone in its hilt.  If we can get it..."

"I'll send a youma down at once, My Lord," the blood haired captain
said.

"Yes, hit them while they are tired.  After the three youma they fought
yesterday, they should not be expecting another one so soon."  He
thought for a moment.  "On second thought, wait for a little while
longer, let them let down their guard even more.  Send it down sometime
tonight."

"Yes, M'Lord," the captain replied, bowing.  He looked up.  "The girl is
getting uppity, My Lord.  May I be allowed to discipline her?"

"She's serving no purpose now," Spessarite mused.  "Yes, Captain
Garnite, you may."

"Thank you, M'Lord."  Garnite gloated as he thought of what he would do
to her.

"Just try not to kill her, we might still have a use for her."


The next day, Serena seemed almost her normal self.  She was a little
subdued, and didn't even tease Travis when he said he'd be late to the
Scout meeting because he needed to talk to Crystal.

Serena told Amy and Lita that she would be late as well and walked over
to Mina's house.  Mina's mother let her in, and she walked slowly up the
stairs to Mina's room.  She took a deep breath and pasted a smile on her
face before knocking on the door.

"Come in," Mina called through the door, knowing it would be one of her
friends.

"Hi Mina!" Serena caroled.  "How are you feeling?  I brought you this,"
she handed Mina one of the stuffed rabbits she had received for her
birthday.

"Oh!  It's so cute," Mina gushed, hugging it tightly.  She then put it
down on top of a white stuffed cat laying next to her.

"Hey!" the cat yelled.  He sat up, trying to be dignified as he shook
the rabbit off of him.

"Ooops, sorry Artemis," Mina giggled.

Serena smiled slightly at the sight, but it faded quickly.  "So Mina,
how are you feeling?  Is there anything I can get for you?  Some food,
some comics?  Do you need any more things to do?  I should have brought
over my video games for you to play."

"Serena, what's the matter?" Mina started to say.

"Here, let me plump up that pillow of yours," Serena suited actions to
words and went on speaking.  "I'll get that bear, I don't think he's
supposed to be on the floor.  Are you supposed to be sitting up? Aren't
you supposed to be lying down and resting?  How long are you supposed to
be in bed for?"

"Serena!  Stop talking!" Mina said louder.

"Does your head hurt?  Do you need any aspirin?  Or did they give you
special pain pills like the ones they gave me when I had that really bad
toothache?  How about some water, are you thirsty?"  Serena bounded
towards the bathroom.

"Serena!" Mina yelled.  "Calm down, I'm not an invalid," Mina told her.

Serena came back, but didn't seem to be able to sit still.  Mina watched
in disbelief as Serena started to clean up her room.

"Serena!" Mina practically shouted again.  She was flabbergasted when
Serena turned around.  Her eyes were very dark and pooled with tears.

"It's not your fault, Serena."  Mina got out of bed and went to her,
disregarding the slight dizziness she felt when she first got up.  She
knew what was wrong. Amy had made sure to warn her, but Artemis had gone
and spied on her, and said she'd seemed okay, so Mina thought she had
gotten over it. She wrapped her in a hug, but Serena just stood there,
stiff.

"You were hurt, and it `was' my fault," Serena said seriously.

"No, it wasn't!" Mina responded immediately.  "It was nobody's fault, it
was just bad luck."  Mina guided Serena to a seat on the bed, after
pushing stuffed animals off to make room for her friend to sit down.
"There was no way of knowing that I'd get hurt.  I really do need to
learn how to tackle a little better though. It's not something you learn
in volleyball."

"How can you be so calm about it?" Serena almost yelled.  "You shouldn't
have gotten hurt, and wouldn't have if I hadn't told you to fight
without your powers!"

"Now hold on!" Mina sat up straight, looking at Serena.  "You didn't
tell me to fight, I told myself!  The only thing you told me was that I
wasn't acting like a Sailor Scout, which is true!  But even if you
hadn't said that, I would have done what I did.  It was pure reflex and
I would do it again in a minute!"

"It's not right," Serena said stubbornly turning her head away, and
refusing to look at Mina.

Mina wouldn't stand for that.  She reached over and pulled Serena's head
around.  "Sure it is," she disagreed, smiling.  "It's the way it should
be."

A knock on the door came before Serena could say anything more.

"Come in," Mina called.

"Hi Mina," Amy said, walking in.  "I stopped by your school and picked
up your homework.  I knew you'd need something to do while you were
stuck in bed."

"Gee, thanks," Mina replied, looking as if she had been handed a snake
as she took the books and quickly pushed them out of sight.

Amy gave her a stern look.

"What?" Mina asked.  "Studying makes my head hurt.  Don't you think it's
been hurt enough?"  Neither noticed Serena wincing at that.

Another knock came on the door, and Mina called for whoever was out
there to come in.  Reenie came skipping in with a bouquet of wild
flowers, with Raye just behind her.

"Hi, Mina!" Reenie chirped.  "These are for you!"  She handed Mina the
bouquet.  It was a little wilted, but Mina smiled sincerely and thanked
her.

"I'll go get some water for them," Amy said, going out to ask Mina's
mother for a vase.

A cough from the window brought everyone's attention to the three cats
and a falcon sitting there. "Good afternoon, Mina, I hope you're feeling
better," Apollo said.

"Much Apollo, thanks," Mina beamed at the four guardians.

"If you're feeling better, does that mean you don't need any of my
triple chocolate fudge cake," Lita said from the doorway.  Serena,
Reenie, and Mina's eyes got large at the sight of the scrumptious cake.

"If I ever didn't want one of your cakes, Lita, I wouldn't be sick, I'd
be dead," Mina's eyes didn't leave the cake as Lita put it down on a
table that had an empty corner, something hard to find in the
overcrowded room.

Once again, no one noticed Serena's eyes go flat as she heard her
friend's words.  *It might happen,* she thought wretchedly.  *One of
them might get seriously hurt, even... killed.*

"Well, since we're all here, we might as well have our Scout meeting.
Except... where's Travis?" Luna asked.

"He's busy," Serena told her.  "I don't think he's coming.  And Darien's
got to work."

"Then Scout meeting it is," Artemis said.  "What's on the agenda?"

"The Negaverse, of course," Raye remarked.  "And how we're to get out
pens back."

"Uh, uh," Mina said.  "Cake comes first."

"Agreed," the others exclaimed.

"I'll go get plates and something to drink," Serena said, hopping up and
leaving the room before the others could comment.

"How is she?" Amy asked immediately as Serena left the room.

"Still beating herself up about it," Mina said seriously.  "It wasn't
her fault!  Why won't she believe that?"

"Because she's being a meatball head," Raye remarked, being very careful
to hide the concern in her eyes.

A sound came at the door, and Reenie rushed to open it, to find Serena
holding a tray with a carton of milk, glasses, plates and forks.

"I would have brought the tea up, but Mrs. Aino said she'd bring it,"
Serena remarked as she absently put down the tray on the edge of the
desk as she went to move some of the stuffed animals and hair ribbons
off and make room for the tray.  Lita rushed to catch it as it teetered.

"I had it Lita, there was no reason for you to get up," Serena said,
frowning.

"Just trying to help out," Lita said, still holding the tray which
Serena hadn't taken from her.

"I know why Mrs. Aino didn't want Serena to bring up the tea," Raye
whispered to Reenie.

"She's gotten better," Reenie giggled and whispered back, "She hardly
ever breaks more than one dish a week, now."

Mrs. Aino brought up the tea, and everyone was served.  Serena's idea of
a piece of chocolate cake brought some sarcastic remarks from Raye, but
everyone was relieved.  By her appetite, she was a lot better.

The talk moved back to the Negaverse and the transformation pens.

"Go after them," Diana piped up.  "You said it might be possible," she
reminded Amy.

"That's right," Amy replied.  "Last time we fought the Negaverse, I
tried to figure out how to create a portal into the Negaverse.  However,
all my information said it wasn't possible.  That is no longer true."

"You mean we can?" Lita looked up eagerly.

"Hold on!" Serena said at once, "You're not going."  Her firm tone of
voice had less impact then it might have, the words being said through a
mouthful of cake.

"She's right," Luna said before Lita could argue.  "It's going to be too
dangerous for non-Scouts to go."  She changed that quick.  "I mean, it
will be too dangerous for you to go while not in your Scout forms."

"Let's make sure we can go, before we start worrying about who," Apollo
said logically from his perch by the window.

"Well," Amy replied.  "Our problem before was two fold, resonance, and
power.  It wasn't just that it was far away, we could have teleported to
that, it was the fact that the Negaverse `is' another universe.  It's
closely tied to this one, but it is still another universe, and our
teleporting only works in this one.  However, Reenie's Key is not tied
to one Universe.  To allow her to cross through time, another thing that
our teleporting cannot do, it... resonates... on many frequencies.   It
is... tuned to time travel, but can be retuned to dimensional travel."

"My Key?" Reenie said in wonder, pulling it out from around her neck.

"To retune it, and for the extra power we need, you'll have to use all
three of the stones," Amy continued, ignoring the interruption, "If you
focus the power of the stones, within the Crystal Key, we should be able
to form a portal into the Negaverse.  You won't be able to visualize
where you end up, either."

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," Mina murmured.

"You're right, it isn't," Serena eagerly responded.

"Serena!  Don't you want us to get our powers back?" Raye's tone was
sarcastic, but she meant what she asked.

"Of course, I do," Serena answered.  "But..."

"But she doesn't want anyone else hurt," Reenie said, impatiently.
"We're not going to be hurt, Mommy."

Serena stared back at her, "You can't be sure of that," she muttered.

"Oh, Serena," Luna sighed.  "Mina getting hurt was not your fault, you
know that."

"Could have fooled me," Serena muttered.

"Why would you think it was your fault?" Lita asked, honestly confused.

"I was the one that convinced you to fight, that makes it my fault,"
Serena was convinced.

"Serena, you're being stubborn," Raye said in exasperation.  "It wasn't
your fault! You couldn't have stopped it, you know that!"

"She was hurt defending me after I convinced her to fight," Serena put
down her plate to argue.  "It was my fault."

"Well then!" Mina said, getting up abruptly and going over to Serena.
"I forgive you."  She drew Serena into a hug.  "There, feel better?"

"You have chocolate on your cheek," Serena said, reaching up to brush it
off.  She smiled very slightly.

Serena kept quiet as the others discussed the best time to go.  They all
agreed the sooner the better, but it would take time to set up an excuse
for Travis, Serena, and Reenie being away from home and school for
however long it took.

"I can't think of anything," Amy finally said.  "I don't think there is
an excuse your parents would accept for you missing school, even though
we could have another slumber party."

"If we could get it done in one night, that would be fine," Lita said.
"Serena?  Do you think you could get our pens back in a night?"

Serena raised her brow, "How should I know?  We don't even know what's
over there, much less where the pens are or who we'll have to fight."

"Meatball Head's right," Raye agreed reluctantly.  "We don't know, so we
can't say how long it will take."

"We've got to get our pens back though," Lita said.  She turned and
stared intently at Serena.  "We don't want to take a chance that `you'
might be hurt if we don't have them."

"Um..." Serena started, but the others had already caught on to what
Lita was saying.

"Do you know how guilty we'd feel if something happened to you while we
didn't have our pens?" Mina said.  "After all, there must have been some
way of stopping that youma from stealing them."

"I should have seen that it was possible for someone besides us to reach
into our Lunar pockets and found a way to make it impossible," Amy
agreed.

"No, it's my fault," Luna put in.  "I should have thought about back-up
pens of some sort."

"But that's silly!" Serena exclaimed.  "There was no way you could
know!"

"We should have," Raye put in.  "As for me and Mina getting caught," she
shook her head, "If we'd been more wary, it wouldn't have happened.  So
it's our own fault we lost them."

"No," Apollo disagreed.  "It's the guardians job to teach you not to be
caught like that, so it's our fault."

"Agreed," Artemis put in.

"So if something happened to you because we don't have our pens," Lita
finished.  "It would be our fault."

"Now you're all talking crazy!" Serena said, exasperated.  "There was
nothing you could do about losing your pens, there was no way you could
know!"

They were all staring at her, the guardians included.  "Don't look at me
like that!  It's not the same thing!"

Reenie was giggling slightly, not able to hold it in.  It had taken her
a bit longer than most of the others to figure out what they were doing,
but she thought it funny that it was the same thing that she had said
last night.  Diana still looked a little lost.

"Look, just tell me when we're going?  And stop looking at each other
like that," Serena sounded exasperated, but her voice had a lightness
not even chocolate cake had managed to bring out.

"The sooner the better," Amy said, as all signs of mirth was wiped from
their expressions.  "Today, if possible."

"And if we're gone more than a day?  How are we going to explain it?"
Serena asked.

"We'll think of something," Lita said confidently.

"Explaining me and Reenie might not be hard, considering Mother will
help you, but how are you going to explain it to Uncle Jake?"  With
that, Serena got up to leave.  "I'm going to talk to my mother," she
said.  She went out and closed the door behind her.  A second later, she
opened it again and poked her head back inside.  "By the way guys,
thanks."


"Hey, Serena, where's your shadow?" Sammy asked as he saw her walking
down the street.  Serena automatically turned to look at her shadow,
before realizing that he was talking about Reenie.

"Ha ha, very funny," she told him.  "Where's Mom?"

"She went to the beauty salon, and then she was going to go shopping,"
Sammy shrugged.  "She should be back home in three or four hours."

"Oh, great," Serena sighed.  She went inside and up to her room.  "Mom's
gone out and isn't going to be home for hours!" she wailed over the
communicator.  "What are we going to do now?"

"One of us will just have to explain it to her," Raye's voice came
through.  "We've already been in touch with Travis, he's told his uncle
he's staying with Darien again.  They'll both be able to get to the
temple in half an hour, will you?"

"Yeah," Serena said.  "I'll be there."

Serena flopped down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling.  It was
going to be dangerous.  They might not come back.  Her mind flashed back
to the fight at the Arctic Circle, when Amy, Raye, Mina, and Lita were
killed.  When Darien, sweet Darien had died in her arms.  *It'll be
different this time,* she tried to convince herself.  *Nobody's going to
die.  We're going to get the pens, and come back, safe and sound.*

Sailor Moon, Sailor Crescent Moon, Sailor Sol, and Sailor Earth stood in
the temple courtyard.  Once again, Darien had had to be reminded that
his Tuxedo Mask form couldn't use the Earth Gem fully.  He had wanted to
be in his strongest form for going into the Negaverse.

Crescent Moon stood in the middle of the other three, holding up her
Crystal Time Key.

"MOON CRYSTAL POWER!"
"EARTH GEM POWER!"
"SUN STONE POWER!"

The power of the three stones went into the Time Key as Crescent Moon
shouted.  "Crystal Time Key!  Open a portal to the Negaverse!"  As the
four concentrated on what they wanted, the power started to swirl not
far from where Sailor Moon was standing.  Amy scanned it with her
computer.

"This is it!  The scans show that this does indeed, lead to the
Negaverse!  Now, be careful, pulling the power too quickly will shut
down the gate, you all need to walk forward together and go through in
as close to a group as possible."

Sailor Moon stared at the portal then turned around and looked at the
friends that were staying behind.  Her eyes caught Mina, who shouldn't
have even been out of bed yet, and was swaying where she stood, Lita
unobtrusively nearby to hold her steady.  Memories assailed her, of Mina
thrown into the wall, Tuxedo Mask getting hit by the spike in Starlight
Tower, and dying in the Negaverse, Sailor Sol getting hurt in his first
fight, Sailor Universe going down under the youmas in front of the
Crystal Palace... and all the Scouts dying one by one as they headed
towards the Negaverse base.

*It can `not' happen again!* she thought suddenly, almost panicking at
the thought of losing the three most important people in her world.
Looking around at her friends and family she made a decision.  Without
warning, or thinking more about it, she broke for the circle of darkness
and energy marking the entrance to the Negaverse.  As she dove through
the portal she withdrew the energy of her crystal away from the Key.

The others watched in disbelief as the portal closed behind their
leader.  "SERENA!" they screamed.

Reenie's scream was the loudest of all, "MOMMY!!!"
----------------------

Well?  What did you think?  Don't forget to write and tell me at
Jendra@aol.com.

Is Sailor Moon going to realise that she wasn't too smart?  Is Quartz
going to find her father?  And what about the other Scouts?  Find out in
Chapter Nine, whatever I'm going to call it.

Jendra http://members.aol.com/Jendra