I Don't Have A Title Yet

Six

1

Darien finally understood why his house mates (with the exception of Josh) chose to skip their classes occasionally. It wasn’t because they were lazy or didn’t care about their class standing (well, he wasn’t completely sure about Frankie). It was as Dave often claimed; sometimes a person needed a mental health day.

In all his years as student, Darien had never missed a day of school. The though never crossed his mind until he got up in the middle of his first lecture and walked out the door with his professor yelling for him to come back.

Not wanting to stay on campus, Darien got into his car and headed home. He had kept the radio off, the major news was the fight between them and the Dark Moon and the aftermath. Five people had been killed that night, twenty were injured, and two students were missing. The two missing were of course Lindsey Kino and Princess Anastasia Alexandrova. Darien had caught the morning news before he walked out the door. A morning news program was running an excerpt of last news. Kenji and Ilene had appeared and gave a brief statement about the disappearance of their niece and made the obligatory appeal to the Sailor Girls to find Lindsey and Miss Alexandrova.

While Darien had stopped in his favorite coffee shop for espresso and muffin, he heard Alex’s mother on the radio blasting the Japanese government for allowing the “terrorist” to continue to roam free and commit all the horrible acts of violence. She demanded that the Minister of Public Safety do whatever it was in his power to protect others from the menace and to find her daughter.

Even Rei’s father had to address the issue. All of Japan knew or had heard of how his daughter had been killed by this radical faction which destroyed the gymnasium at her school…At that, Darien tuned the rest out. But he could not escape it. The attack and the kidnapping had been the main topic of conversation on the lips of the students when he went in to class that morning.

What he heard ranged from paranoid delusions to the absurd. After deciding he did not want to spend the rest of the day listening to that rabble adding to fact that he was emotionally exhausted (he had spent the night at Mina’s trying to help her cope with this mess.) He had called Usagi that morning to check on her. Her mother hand answered, Usa had gone to school that morning. He had surprised to hear that, but her mother explained that Usagi only went to escape her hounding government. With five Senshi MIA, Silver Millennium was now more afraid for Usagi’s life. They wanted her off Earth (Terra for the Intergalactic savvy.). Darien knew Usagi’s stand on the issue had not changed and as much as it secretly pleased him, Darien was beginning to think that her government was right. Neither Usagi nor the remaining Senshi were safe on his world. Their enemy was Terran, which made them virtually invisible to the Senshi who could not tell most Terrans apart unless they were familiar with their energy patterns. Their senses were blocked by magic which was fine under normal circumstances except this time it was their greatest hindrance.

Rei was a powerful psychic. When it had just been Usa, Ami, Rei, and himself, the priestess had a near uncanny ability to sense Beryl’s pets and predict where they were set loose on Juuban. She had felt the aliens who had invaded over the summer, (now that was the dumbest invasion he had witnessed since seeing the movie Mars Attack as a kid.) So it worried him when Rei had failed to pick up on the so called rebels from the future who were out to assassinate both him and Usa… Darien came to sudden stop, luckily he had come to a red light when he had his epiphany.

They had been going about this entire situation all wrong. When the light changed, Darien gunned the engine and made u-turn, going back towards Tokyo.

If he was right, the answer to their dilemma has been right under their noses the entire time.

2

She knew she shouldn’t have come to school, but Usagi could not bear to be her house that morning. The entire atmosphere there had been oppressive. With calls coming in from concerned family members in America and Europe, and the media, it had all been too much, not just for her but her family as well.

Usa looked down at the mess she had scribbled down when she should have been taking notes in her history class. Haruna-sensei had been very understanding when Usagi did not do well on her math test that afternoon. She was going to let Usa make it up at the end of the week, but in the meanwhile her prayers were with her and family. She closed the booklet firmly before dropping it down in her bag.

Usa raised her face to the sky and closed her eyes. A tired sigh mingled with sadness escaped her lips, betraying the false sense of calm and serenity she projected to the outside world. Prayers were the last thing she needed right now. Usa needed answers not just for herself, but her government, the allied planets, as well as the families of her Senshi.

What does the enemy want? She wondered. Where did they come from? Why did they want to destroy her crystal? Could her death really be all they cared for?

“I’m afraid the sun cannot give you the answers you seek any more than the wind can, Serenity.”

At the use of her true name, Usagi’s eyes flew open and she turned to face who had dared to intrude upon her solitude. Her pale gray eyes met unremarkable brown in the familiar face one of her oldest friends. Confusion marred her lovely face as she looked up Umino who stood a few feet away from the bench she was seated on.

“What did you call me?” she asked in a low whisper.

Umino heard the demand in her quiet voice as well as the underlying threat. Just like his sister, he was a psychic, but he was not a strong one. But what he lacked with that gift, he made up with his other gift.

“Do not fear, your Majesty, I am your loyal servant.” He said in her mind.

Usa gasped, startled by the mental touch and by the sudden rush of images that followed. This she had only shared with her Senshi and her family, a gift that served to convey her deeper emotions to those she cherished most. It was more intimate and more precious since only showed the truth. As it was now.

Forcefully, Usagi shoved him from her mind. The backlash of her sudden anger rushed over him like a physical attack which caused him to stumble back against a tree. He hit the tree before dropping to the ground in graceless heap. He lay there for a moment pulling up his mental barriers as he also tried to regain his composure.

Suddenly a small hand was at his throat. The pressure from the deceptively delicate hand was cutting off his air supply. He opened his eyes and Usagi emitted a small gasp and quickly let him go.

“Ares?” she said in shocked disbelief. One the brow of her geeky little friend was the last thing she had ever expected to see.

The King of Mars rose from his comfortable seat on the earth floor, pausing to dust dirt and dried leaves from his uniform jacket and his rear all the while the flaming symbol of the Ancient God for whom he had been named was blazing on his forehead.

“In the flesh,” he bowed mockingly.

Usagi face became a deep shade a red as she recalled just moments ago she ready rip the smirking King’s throat out because she thought he was the enemy.

“What are you doing here, Ares?” she demanded curtly in an effort to regain control over the situation.

“It’s Umino, please Serenity.” He smiled charmingly down at her.

She only huffed and turned her nose up at him defiantly.

He tried again, but Usa was in no mood for flattery. Just when she thought things could not get any worst, the freaking King of Mars just had to show up and possess Umino.

“I have not possessed anyone,” he snapped her as soon as she thought that ridiculous idea. “This is my Terran disguise. I have been on Terra for five years.”

Usa’s head whipped around to his direction so fast he was surprised she did not have whiplash. “Five years?” She cried.

He nodded curtly

Usa started to her feet. Ever the courtier, Ares offered her his hand, which she absently accepted.

It took Usa a moment to right herself. Her long hair had gathered bits of leaves and twigs and the bottom of her skirt was dusty. She didn’t know what possessed her to wear her hair in buns and pigtails that morning. The stuff was well near uncontrollable when it was loose, the shimmering, semi-transparent strains moved about as if gravity was a myth.

Once she was satisfied that she no longer resembled Serena at play, Usa directed her attention on the King before her and growled out rather menacingly, “Start talking, Ares.” She shoved her index finger in his chest, making him back up until he hit the same tree again. “What the hell are you doing on Terra?”

Ares looked down at the slight girl glaring up at him with daggers in her eyes and he swallowed hard. This meeting was not going as he envisioned.