Darien jerked awake. For a second he lay in bed, blinking up at the unfamiliar ceiling. <What's happened? Where am I?> Ever since he'd been orphaned as a child he'd hated not knowing where he was and what was going on. The last thing he remembered was picturing Usako's face and then falling unconscious. That didn't do him any good. He struggled to sit up. He was shocked at the amount of effort it took him. He blinked around at the room. He was in a hospital, and hooked up to an IV. He shivered involuntarily. This was all too familiar. He shoved his disturbing childhood memories aside roughly as he struggled to make sense of what was happening.
That's right! The locket had started playing! Darien's eyes desperately searched the room as he sought some sign of where the hospital staff might have put it. His hands fumbled through the bedstand next to him, but it wasn't there. It only contained his watch and some pocket change. He almost got out of bed to search the room, but he gave it a second thought. He'd barely been able to lever himself upright. What if he collapsed in the middle of the room? That wouldn't do him any good. So instead he tried to remember more of his last moments of consciousness.
He closed his eyes. The locket had started playing, he'd taken it out to look at it, and then something-HIT him. He fought to bring out whatever it was. <Usako...Usako was alive!> That's what had knocked him out, her awakening! But what about the locket? He must have dropped it, back at the computer supply store. He ground his teeth in frustration. That annoying college student Serena, the girl he worked with, had probably taken it. She never left him alone. The only thing he hadn't done to get her to leave him alone was punch her.
"Well! We're awake! I can't believe it!" A nurse stood in the doorway to his room, surprised. She was carrying a tray of food. She hurriedly went to the other half of the room, behind the curtain, and left the meal with whoever Darien's room-mate was. Then she left the room. Probably in search of a doctor. How long had he been here? Darien fished through the bedstand drawer until he found his watch. He checked the date, and dropped it in shock. <Two months! I've been out almost two months! My God!>
He was still trying to recover from the shock when a doctor strode in. "Good, I'm glad to see you awake. We couldn't find a cause for your coma, young man. We'd almost given up hope on your recovery." He made note of instrument readings and mumbled to himself for a few minutes. While he was checking things over another nurse came into the room. "Uh...sir?" She was looking at Darien.
"Yes?" He was barely understandable. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Yes?"
"There's some girl outside, she says her name is Serena. She's asked to visit you. Now that you're awake, I thought I'd ask if you wanted any visitors."
"No! I don't want to see anybody named Serena when I'm like this! Uh...just tell her I'm too sick to see her or something. I really can't deal with her now." The nurse was surprised at his outburst, but nodded in agreement.
"I'll tell her you're not well enough to have visitors." She turned and left. Darien turned to the doctor.
"How long before I can leave?"
"You're weak from having been in bed for so long, but other than that you're fine. To tell you the truth, you've been fine the whole time you've been here, except you wouldn't wake up. You can go whenever you want. You'll want to set up some sort of physical therapy to regain your strength though, before you leave."
"Are all my belongings in here? Did you take anything of mine?"
The doctor smiled. "You're wallet's in a safe, but all your other belongings are here. You'll have to sign for your wallet at the front desk. I'm glad to see you wake up. It's good to see a patient recover, even if I can't take credit for the recovery." The doctor left, and Darien struggled out of bed and changed into his clothes. His condition wasn't as bad as he'd thought. Getting dressed was no picnic, but at least he could function. After Darien signed all the papers necessary to get out of the hospital, he caught a bus to the store he worked at. He just knew Serena had his locket. He wanted it back, then he was going to find Usako.
*****
Serena stood at the nurses' station, nonplused. "I'm sorry, miss. The man you asked to see doesn't want to talk right now. Please leave."
<But I felt it! He's Endymion, and in the hospital like I was! He must be Endymion!> She'd hoped her adopted name Serena was close enough to Serenity for him to know who she was. Her shoulders slumped. Maybe she'd come back later. Dejected, Serena began to walk home.
*****
Darien stalked angrily into the computer store. "Is Serena working today?" he asked angrily. The cashier was new. Darien didn't know him. The young man nodded, surprised.
"She's in the back room. Just a second, I'll get her."
"Don't bother. I know the way." He walked toward the back room and opened the door, despite the man's protests. "I work here," he explained. "I've been sick the last two months, but I haven't been told yet that I'm fired." Darien stood in the store room. "Serena!" he called. "Are you in here? I need to talk to you."
"Yes?" Serena eagerly popped her head around a corner at the sound of his voice. "Darien, is that you? You're out of the hospital!" She ran forward to give him an exuberant hug, but he drew back before she could. He held up one hand to stop her, then he held it out, waiting for something.
"Did you keep my locket I was holding when I fell, Serena? I want it back."
"Why? It's just a stupid old locket. You should be nicer to me, Darien." She looked crestfallen. Darien didn't care.
"I want it back. It's mine, and if you don't give it back right now I'm going to press charges." He tapped his foot impatiently. Serena's eyes filled with tears.
"You're so m-m-mean to me!" she cried, and with a violent jerk she threw the locket at him and ran from the room, no doubt hoping he would follow after her and apologize. <Well, I won't!> Instead he caught the locket and opened it. It wasn't playing, after all.
<Usako.>
Suddenly he heard the bell at the door to the store ring, and the hair on the back of his neck rose. The locket started playing. He turned and left the storeroom to see who had entered. The new clerk and his co-worker Serena looked at him in surprise as he burst out of the storeroom. He stared in disbelief at the new customer that Serena had just offered to help.
The customer looked around, blinking beautiful blue eyes as they adjusted to the darkness. Her hair was short, just short of reaching her shoulders, but it was the old familiar blonde, with a hint of curl to it. She was older, and more mature, but she was still just the same as the last time he'd seen her...
*****
Mamoru looked up as the familiar feeling hit him. Usako was in danger. She was off on some dangerous mission, again. But the feeling was surprisingly distant. She was far off. It would take him a while to get to her. Swearing, he transformed, and set off to follow her.
*****
He finally sensed that he was getting close. Though what the sailor senshi were doing out here in the middle of nowhere escaped him. He approached them just as they and some civilians were engulfed in some sort of black cyclone. With a cry of despair he tried to follow, but by the time he got close they were gone. Tuxedo Kamen tried to think of a way to follow them, but he couldn't. It was up to the girls, now.
*****
Tuxedo Kamen couldn't even tell where Sailor Moon was. She must have jumped into some other dimension. He waited for an hour, but sensed nothing. Suddenly his heart quickened. Something momentous was happening. He closed his eyes to concentrate.
He sensed something, dimly. Usako was in great distress. She'd changed from a sailor senshi back into a normal teenager. Something was dangerously wrong. She was tempted to use Ginzuishou, but she didn't think even that could save her. Suddenly pain engulfed all of her senses, and his as well.
*****
Tuxedo Kamen woke up. An hour had passed. Desperately he tried to sense Usako again, but failed. He tried again, but got nothing.
"Usako! Usako!" he shouted, but nothing answered.
<Usako!>
*****
Mamoru went to see Makoto, but she wasn't home. Next he tried Ami's house. Her mother answered the door. She was wearing her coat and carried her purse, as if she was about to step out.
"Hello, Mrs. Mizuno. Is Ami home? I would like to talk to her."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Haven't you heard? The girls went on a hiking trip this weekend, and something went wrong. They're all in the hospital. Evidently some of the girls are hurt very bad. The police are involved, and they wouldn't tell me everything over the phone. I'm off to the hospital now. You can follow me if you like."
Mamoru nodded. "Arigato."
*****
Rei was in the best shape of all of the girls, but she was so overwrought she could barely speak. When she was left alone with Mamoru she calmed down suddenly.
"What's going on, Rei?" he asked, suspicious.
"I'm trying to act as hysterical as possible. We can't really explain what happened to us to the police, so we decided to pretend to be too hysterical and confused to remember what happened. The others are all unconscious now, so they've been bugging me. Mamoru, we have a problem. Sailor Moon got lost in the wormhole. We don't know where she is, or-" Rei's eyes teared up. "or if she's alive. We're too weak to go back right now. It's bad there, Mamoru. The humans almost died in there, the air was so bad. I don't know how long Sailor Moon could last."
Mamoru clutched his hands to his chest in fear. She couldn't be dead.
*****
The girls came back from their mission. All of them were crying. Sailor Mars actually had tears running down her face. Mamoru walked up to them. "Did you find her? Tell me!" Sailor Mercury shook her head.
"She killed the Silver Knight, Mamoru, but it killed her as well. She was already gone. There was nothing we could do."
Sailor Venus crumpled to the ground with a heartwrenching sob. Sailor Jupiter looked at his face, and turned away. Mamoru felt as if his heart had been ripped right out of his chest. He stood silent and stared at the girls for a few seconds. Then, without a word, he turned, walked back to his car, and drove home.
He ran out of his car and into his apartment. He stood in the middle of his room and panted angrily. He didn't say anything, didn't cry, did nothing but stand there, motionless, and breathe. Finally he couldn't stand it any longer. He lifted his head and yelled. He didn't say anything, but he let loose with one, long, angry, wordless bellow. When he ran out of breath he lowered his head and walked over to his bed. He sat on it, and lowered his face into his cupped hands. He cried.
<Usako!>
He leaned back and sat his head on his pillow, but something hard and cold lay on it. He reached behind his head and picked it up. It was their star locket. Usako had had it when she'd been sucked into that black tornado, when she'd gotten lost in the warped space-time of the Silver Knight's wormhole. Somehow she'd gotten it to him. Abandoning all of his last vestiges of pride, Mamoru turned over, buried his face in his pillow, and cried as he had when he was a child, just after he was told his parents were dead.
*****
He hadn't seen the girls since they'd told him Usagi was dead. He'd been seriously depressed ever since he'd accepted that she was dead. He couldn't stand living in the place where they'd spent so much time together. Every time he passed by a park they'd visited or went into a restaurant they'd eaten at he lost control of his emotions. Once he'd actually cried. Not loud tearing sobs, like he wanted to, though. He managed to keep silent, so only the tears falling down his face revealed his anguish. He had to get away.
He'd decided to move to the United States. He transferred from Azabu Institute of Technology to a school in the U.S.. After a while he was tired of being called Mamoru. It reminded him of Japan too much, so he decided to change his name.
He brooded about it for days. What should he change it too? He wanted it to sound American instead of Japanese. For a while he considered names similar to his own, like Mark or Matt. Something that didn't remind him of Japan or Usagi one bit. But it wasn't fair. He didn't want to forget her either. Finally he had an idea. His name in the Silver Millennium had been Endymion. He could hardly take up that name and sound American, but the name Darien was close. Maybe that would work. He thought about for a few minutes, and then decided. He would change his name to Darien.
*****
He worked every spare second he had. He kept himself so busy that he didn't have time to think about Usagi. He didn't have time to mourn her. He couldn't seem to overcome his grief, and became even more reticent then he had been since his parents' death. He didn't have any friends, and though he often missed Motoki, and the great times they'd had, he didn't have the energy needed to bother with a friend. He just ignored everyone around him.
But he did well in school and at his job. The biggest annoyance in his life was that girl Serena. She was constantly bothering him, hanging around behind his back, and sighing loudly to call attention to that fact. She kept poking into his life and asking painful questions. She even signed up for some of his college physics courses to be near him constantly, though it had to be playing havoc with her grade point, considering her interests lay more in business. More than once he'd been tempted to yell at her to leave him alone, but he never really lost control. Instead he ignored her, and began speaking Japanese to himself all the time, to avoid having her overhear him. Sometimes he was grateful to her though. Her constant petty annoyances made his mind stay active and on his feet. Like Usako had. He was still alive, and working and going to school, but all the joy in life was gone. He'd never find someone as perfect as Usako had been. They were soul-mates, only more. They'd had only one soul between them, but it had been enough. And now half of it was gone forever.
More than once he considered suicide, but the new American culture he was immersed in and his own stubborn pride made him decide, each time he considered it, that it was wrong, that it would mean he had given up too easily. So he kept on.
One day at a time.
Without Usako.
*****
Serena's mouth firmed as she was walking home. She tossed her head of short blonde hair in annoyance as she stopped. She couldn't just give up like this. She had to see Endymion. Maybe he wasn't able to see visitors because he was still unconscious, as she had been. In that case he probably just needed her near him to wake him up. She was Princess Serenity. She couldn't give up that easily. Once more she closed her eyes, just to make sure. She felt the tug, and followed it. After a few minutes she realized she wasn't heading for the hospital this time. She was moving to someplace else. Maybe she had been mistaken the first time. Finally she arrived at a bustling mall. She walked toward a computer store. The was some sort of fight going on in the back room. Serena could hear it, but it was too dark in the store for her to see much of anything, except a young guy at the cashier's post and a girl, about twenty, who strode toward her with a smile. The woman came up to her and said "Hello, my name is Serena. Can I help you?"
Serena was about to comment on the fact that they had the same name when she suddenly felt something. It was him! She could actually feel that Endymion was close. She peered eagerly into the dim light of the computer shop.
*****
Serena turned to look back at the store room entrance when she heard Darien open the door. He stood there, clutching his stupid locket, which was playing. Maybe it wasn't broken after all, but she hadn't been able to make it work. She looked into Darien's eyes, but he was staring at the entrance to the store with a look of longing and wonder. Serena flushed angrily. Any one who could bring a look like that to Darien's face was already her enemy. She turned to look take a better look at the customer she'd walked up to. He was staring at her, and she was nothing more than a high school student. A scrawny girl with obviously fake blonde hair. The emotions that played across Darien's face were echoed by this girl's expression. Serena felt her face turn red with anger, and she opened her mouth to say something nasty, but the girl's gaze didn't even flicker. Darien and her had locked their eyes on each other, and the rest of world didn't even exist to them anymore.
*****
Darien's eyes widened. There she was.
"Usako..." At first he whispered it, softly, as if making a loud noise would break a spell and make her disappear. "Usako! You're alive!" He unconsciously reverted back to Japanese. He ran toward her.
"Endymion...." Her familiar voice sent a thrill through his body. He thought he'd never hear it again, but here she was. Alive, warm, and breathing, in his arms. He hugged her tightly.
"Usako, I thought you were dead. For two years I've lived without you." He voice, too choked with tears to continue, fell silent. With trembling fingers he reached out and touched her chin, lifting her face up so he could gaze into her eyes. Tears overflowed out of his eyes and ran down his cheeks unchecked. Usako was alive. She'd come back.
She looked up at him, love shining out of her eyes, but also something else. Confusion.
"Endymion? Why do you call me Usako? Don't you remember? My name is Serenity. Princess Serenity."
Darien nodded. "I remember that, but that was so long ago. The present is more important to me. I'm so glad to see you here. Have you told your parents or the other sailor senshi that you're still alive?"
Usako shook her head. "I'm confused. Something's wrong here." She looked around at the staring people who watched "Let's go somewhere else to talk." She squeezed his hand. "Whatever's going on, I'm not worried. I've finally found you, Endymion." Her hand reached up to wipe a tear off of his cheek.
He smiled back. "Call me Mamoru."
He leaned down, and Usako went up on tip-toes, and they exchanged a long-awaited kiss.
*****
Lita looked up with a gasp of surprise. Mr. Huruta looked over at her, worried, but she didn't drop anything, or fall unconscious. She just held her knife immobile in mid-air, staring off into space.
He shook her shoulder gently. "Lita? Are you all right? Lita?"
After a second she turned to him, blinking. "I'm fine. Something important just happened...."
*****
Mina looked up from her homework. Artemis stopped washing his ears, his paw held up in the air. Something was going on. Mina and Artemis exchanged looks.
"What was that?" Mina asked, breathless.
"I don't know. Something momentous. Not nearly as bad as that first shock, whatever started it, but something important nonetheless." He went back to washing as he thought.
*****
Raye gasped as another wave on energy crashed into her mind. It jarred her out of meditation, but she caught herself before it knocked her off her seat. Something had happened. It was good, whatever it was. The energy wave had an aftertaste of happiness to it. She smiled to herself as the joy spread through her thoughts.
*****
Amy and Luna exchanged looks. They both had an idea of what this sensation meant. Amy grabbed her computer and began typing.
"Whatever it was, it wasn't nearly as strong. But it's different somehow. I think I'll have to talk to Rei about this. Something important is going on."
Luna nodded in agreement. "We have to find the other scouts, and find out what that fifth energy signature was. Something's happening, and we need to figure out what."
*****
"Hurry up, dragon!" The black rider cuffed the stupid creature's thick skull. He was nervous. Maybe this was more than he had bargained for. The ancient power had found an ally. They were bound together, and the news of that binding flew across the stellar system into the rest of the galaxy as the energy wave it produced traveled outward at the speed of light. "Land already! These mountains will offer us enough cover to escape the notice of the natives. They're so primitive. Just remember, don't reflect the sound waves that reach you. Let them through. Even these primitive creatures can harm us with nuclear weapons if they detect us." He dissipated the heat of entry into the planet's atmosphere with his magic, and cushioned their landing on the hard rock. He had to find this ancient creature, and steal it's energy source before it grew any stronger or smarter.