Hi!!! I'm rating this part PG 12, cause I think that's what it deserves. Chapter 4 Two days had passed since Lita's funeral. None of the Sailor Soldiers had adapted to the fact that she was no longer with them. And Serena had even more things on her mind, with Darien and all. She just lied on her bed, and stared at the ceiling. In her hand was something Lita had given her less than a week before her untimely death. It was a friendship ring. Serena just clutched it close to her heart. Not crying, or even breathing hard. Just staring at the ceiling, with that ring clutched in her hand. Serena then felt something rub her outer thigh. It felt like it was in her pocket. She reached in and pulled out another ring. It was the ring Darien had saved for to buy her. She looked at it for a moment, and she kept remembering that day, outside the hospital. "Damn you, Darien. Damn you to hell." She placed the ring on the nightstand next to her bed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rei sat in front of the Great Fire. She was deep into meditation. She wanted to find out what was going on. Nothing made any sense to her. It was as if logic had been thrown completely out the window, and chaos was consuming the city. "Oh Great Fire, tell me what it is that is causing all of this chaos and torment!" Rei opened her eyes to see if the Great Fire could tell her anything. She stared at it, concentrating, for a long time. Finally, an image appeared in the fire. It was an image of Darien. It changed into the White Knight, and then it went to all black. Suddenly, the fire enlarged, and showed the White Knight and the knight in black fighting. "Oh shit." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Serena heard a knocking at her front door. { Go away. } The knocking only persisted. {Oh, all right. I'm coming. } Serena got out of her bed, and walked downstairs. She opened the door. "Mina, hi! What are you doing here?" "Serena, I wanted to apologize for not being at Lita's funeral. I just didn't think it would be right, seeing as how I caused everything." "Mina, why don't you come on in?" "Nah, I got something I have to take care of. I'll see ya later. I just wanted to apologize --" "Mina, don't worry. It's OK, I understand." Mina faked a smile. "Well, I gotta go." Mina hurriedly walked away, toward the south end of town. "See ya around!" Serena called. Mina just kept walking, not looking back. { No, you won't. } ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mina stood at the edge of the cliff. Her hair blew in the breeze as she stared out at the horizon. She guessed that the cliff was about 100 feet high. She guessed wrong; it was 150 feet high. { Everyone, please forgive me. } Mina said the Lord's Prayer, and then she did what she had came there to do. The air rushed around her as she fell over the cliff. She never screamed, and never felt any pain. She died on impact. Her torment was over. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rei knocked on Serena's door furiously. { Serena, you are going to listen to me this time. } Rei continued knocking on the door. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, and after Rei's knuckles had turned red, the door opened. "Serena, about time." Serena started to close the door, but Rei stopped her by pushing against the door. "Serena, you are going to listen to me. Whether you want to or not. We are both Sailor Soldiers --" "Well, unless this is Sailor business, then I have to tell you to leave." "Serena, I'm not sure, but it could be Sailor business." Serena stared into Rei's eyes. Seriousness was in them, and there was no other emotion that could be seen. "All right. You can come in. But, I'm home alone right now, and I don't know where Luna is. So, if you say one wrong thing, don't be surprised if you're suddenly gasping for air because my hands are around your throat." "Is that a threat?" "It's a fair warning." Serena opened the door more, to let Rei in. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Serena, this is about Darien. I think he's in danger." "You can help him. You seem to be really good at that." "Serena, will you shut the fuck up for one damned minute? I was doing a fire reading, and I think that we haven't seen the last of the White Knight." Serena's eyes grew wide. "What?" "Serena, I think there are two knights now. One of them is evil, and the other one is good. And they both look just like Darien." "Do you know anything else?" "Well, yeah. The evil one is shadowy, and the good one is still inside the real Darien." "Well, I saw a non-shadowy Darien kiss you. So I guess you have to make up a better excuse than that, don't you?" Serena stood, seemingly with no expression on her face. "Now, get out of my house." "Serena, will you stop that? I'm not making this up!" "Just get out." "Serena, Darien is --" Serena slapped Rei across the face, cutting her off. "Darien is no longer my concern. He's your concern." Rei got up, feeling where Serena had slapped her. "Now, please leave before I do anything more to you." Rei stormed out of the house. { I swear, that bitch needs an attitude adjustment. And they say *I'm* the cranky one! } ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Serena's thoughts were interrupted by her communicator beeping. She fished around in her pocket to find it. She took it out, and saw Amy's face. "Oh, hi Amy! What's up?" "Serena, have you seen Mina?" "Not since earlier this morning. Why?" "Well, she was going to come by an hour ago, but she never showed. I think something's wrong." "OK, Amy. Well, maybe she's just late." "No. I know Mina can be late once in a while, but not this much. That only happens with you." "Hardee har har." "Serena, I think we should look for her. Maybe she's at Rei's." "OK. You check there, and I'll check around in a few other places she likes to hang out." "OK. We'll meet at the arcade in 2 hours, and tell each other our luck." "Sure." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Nope, I haven't seen her. Not in a couple of days." "Well, OK Rei. I just thought maybe she had been by here." "Sorry, Amy. If I see her, I'll call you though." "OK." Amy turned around, and started walking down the temple's front stairs. Something told her to circle around, and walk around back. And she did. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Black Knight made Mina's decaying corpse appear behind the Cherry Hill Temple. He looked around, before disappearing into thin air. He disappeared just before Amy peeked her head around the building. "Oh my God...." Rei stepped out back, and immediately saw Mina's half decomposed corpse laying on the ground. She then saw Amy, who had already turned to her. "Oh, Amy, this isn't what it looks like." "Oh, you just don't know how this got here, do you? Rei, I swear, you will pay for this. May you burn in the fiery pits of hell!" Amy stormed out away, leaving behind a speechless Rei. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Black Knight appeared behind Rei. His radiating negative energy immediately engulfed her, and he immediately started filling her mind with memories. Memories of killing Mina, and then memories of kissing Darien. He then disappeared. Rei still had the memories, and a new personality. "Now, for another victim." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Be Continued.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OK Ch 4 is finally done! Man, it was hard. But it was fun. Well, send comments to cowboys@wwd.net