Chapter 2: "In Name Only"

She came to with a start, and some strange thought like 'This is a much less graceful awakening than last time' drifted through the girl's mind before it was snuffed like a candle. She panted heavily, eyes flickering around the darkened room with no small measure of panic. Where was she? What was she doing here? She didn't recognize anything, the shapes around her just formless blobs that had no accompanying association in her mind. She could tell she was in a bed, but that was about it. A plain white bed, in a plain white nightdress that hung limp and loose about her slender frame. She ran her fingers over the rough-hewn fabric, before gathering it up in two clenched fists and squeezing.

She couldn't remember.

She couldn't remember this dress.

This bed.

This room.

Nothing.

Not even her own name.

It was all gone, a foggy intangible sense of knowledge just beyond reach, and trying to bring it forth was like trying to grasp hold of smoke with bare hands. Futile.

The girl began to hyperventilate, her body trembling and heartbeat racing. Just as the world was tunneling around the edges, and she felt ready to topple boneless, a door swung open. She only had a brief glance into a brightly lit hallway beyond until it was shut again, but this time, she was not alone.

Another woman rushed forward, making gentle shushing noises. She perched herself on the mattress and it crunched slightly as she rested her full weight upon it, leading the younger girl to believe perhaps it was filled with straw. She shied away from this strange new presence; this large, looming woman with her overflowing skirts and as many jewels and baubles as could possibly be fitted upon her person. The most interesting was a decadent, tear-shaped ruby hairpiece that hung down into the middle of her massive forehead, and it was this the frightened girl with no name chose to focus on, as she worked on regulating her breathing.

"Oh, you poor dear. Look at you, quivering like a leaf in a storm! Would you like more blankets? Perhaps one of the other girls to draw you a bath?"

"N-no," she answered in a whisper, licking her parched lips. "I... Where am I?"

Jade green eyes forecasted a flurry of emotions, the primary being a simpering sort of concern. "Oh my dear. You truly do not know? You must have hit your head harder than we thought!"

The older woman reached out and patted her cheek in a comforting manner, but the girl jerked at the touch all the same.

"It's alright, I won't hurt you. What do you remember? Can you remember your name? Who I am? Think hard. It must still be there, it just needs the proper coaxing."

She focused very intently on those questions, hoping for something... anything. Some stray tidbit that might bring it all flooding back; would lift the block upon her mind. She squeezed her fists upon the thin white dress again, swallowing back the lump of frustration in her throat, when suddenly -

"Serenity."

The word flowed like a long-forgotten song off her lips, and she exhaled loudly, startled by how immediately right it felt... staring at this white dress crushed beneath tight-knuckled fingers. Yes, she decided, with a burst of confidence she had not previously possessed. That was her name.

Serenity laughed with joy and relief. It wasn't a lot. But it was something, and something was a better start than nothing.

Triumph flashed across the other woman's features, and her responding smile was almost more of a leer. "Yes... Serenity... That's right, you are Serenity. And what else? Can you remember anything else?"

Serenity's own smile faltered and she worried upon her lower lip for a few ephemeral moments, considering. "No... I'm sorry. I'm trying and it's, it's just blank. That's all I can remember."

The other woman sighed, intimations of dashed hopes in the way her shoulders deflated and her nod was less buoyant. "That's alright. We'll get you there. Serenity... you're in Castle Lethe. I am the queen regnant, of the same name. You've been in my employ since you were just a small child, when your dying mother bequeathed you to me in hopes you might lead a better life than the one you would've had to face, an orphan alone in the world."

Employ? "So... I'm your servant?" Serenity inferred, in a small voice. She didn't say it, having no proof to the contrary, but something about the title - and the inferior ranking it implied - rang hollow in her mind. Like it belonged to someone else, but surely not her.

Queen Lethe inclined her head, the loose red-mahogany strands of hair that were not piled atop her crown now falling to the side.

"For appearance's sake... Yes, you are my servant. It was the only way I could justify allowing such a lowborn peasant within these walls." Her face softened in the dim light, streaming in from a single loophole window set into the stone wall. "But it is in name only. I raised you from naught but a babe. Everyone has always known you're my favorite. My little moonchild."

Serenity blinked, whispering, "Moonchild?"

That did stir something, deep in her psyche. But it was nothing more than a poke with a stick; once the ripples abated, the river of her mind was still cloudy with awful nothingness. She did however notice how Lethe seemed to be carefully watching her reaction.

"Oh yes. It was a full moon the night I found you and your mother, half-gone with fever, begging outside my gates for safe harbor. Poachers had killed her husband, stolen your land. She ran for miles, despite her illness. I am not an unfeeling monarch, despite what rumors the naysayers may spread. I took pity on this young lass and had her brought to the infirmary, but it was already too late. She passed on only hours later. And so I honored her last request; I took you in... trained you myself... You really do not remember any of this, Serenity? Remember me?"

The blonde hung her head and shook it sadly, the information about her life so foreign it was as if she were listening to the story of another person. She felt no connection, not to her past nor this woman sitting beside her who claimed to be some sort of benevolent master and de facto mother all rolled into one. It made her feel very uncomfortable indeed.

Lethe gave another loud and regretful sigh. She smoothed out the blankets on either side of Serenity, which had been left rumpled and cast aside upon the girl's startled awakening. "No matter. As I said... we'll get you back. I'm sure your memories will begin to return as you wander the castle, see all your favorite haunts and old friends once more. But for now I want you to rest. I'll have Nikko bring a tonic for pain if you are in need, and then maybe you should consider that bath."

Serenity frowned. "Pain?"

"Are you not in pain? It was quite a fall..."

Serenity looked down again at herself, this time noticing a couple colorful bruises she had missed in her initial explorations. One particularly nasty purple one was painted harshly onto the pale skin of her chest, and she was positive it continued well past the collar of her dress. She blinked as she suddenly realized, yes... it did rather hurt. Her mind had been rushing around in so many directions, trying to grasp hold of the situation, she failed to feel the effect of her injuries until they were pointed out to her. Now she could think of little else. "What happened to me?"

"Eamos - the stable boy?" Lethe prodded, but when Serenity made no response of recognition she continued, "He took you out riding through the grounds this afternoon, but the horse got spooked and bucked you off. He was in quite a state when he brought you back. You've been unconscious for hours."

Serenity stared, wishing she could remember something - anything - about her accident. From who this friend of hers was, to the horse (Did it have a name? She never would have pegged herself a horseback riding type of person), to what would have caused the animal such a fright. But it was useless, and so she eventually surrendered to the sad prospect of simply having to re-learn everything and everyone that used to play a role in her life.

"I guess that explains why I'm so sore," she said, offering a weak smile because it seemed like the polite thing to do.

"Yes, which is why sleep will do you well," Lethe answered decisively. "Perhaps if your mind has time to heal, it will shake whatever this temporary amnesia is."

Serenity nodded, shying away again when Queen Lethe reached over to pat her shoulder, but the royal monarch seemed unfazed. She stayed there as Serenity laid back down, curling in on herself, wishing... hoping... praying that the next time she opened her eyes it would be to a familiar world once more. She was so achingly exhausted, in her body and in her mind, that she fell into slumber surprisingly quickly... so deeply under that she never even registered the strange humming that had filled the room, nor the vial as it was forced past her pliant, parted lips.

Mamoru was at work when the feeling hit.

It had been so long, he almost didn't recognize the desperation that filled him; the fear that rocketed through his veins as only one powerful foreboding could -

She was in danger.

He felt it the moment Usagi transformed, and so out of practice was he with combating the intense pressure this brought on in his head, that he dropped the clipboard he was holding and grabbed at his temple. His nursing assistant cried out in surprise and grasped his shoulder, but he brushed her away, not even sure what excuse fell past his lips but it had to have been enough, because she didn't question nor follow when he went flying out of the room like all the demons of hell were after him.

The garb of Tuxedo Kamen materialized onto his figure once he was safely out into the parking lot. Then he paused and focused inward, trying to ascertain the whereabouts of his beloved. That was when the second blow struck.

He always had a read on her. No matter what peril his sweet, klutzy, earth-protecting Usagi found herself in - from the average youma to the horrible sensation of her heart crystal being ripped out - he still felt her heart beating within himself. However struggling, however weak. She was always there, his beacon, his light in the darkness. There was only one time in living memory that he could recall her ever not being there... Only one time his connection to her went cold. And that was when the crystal shattered, on Fiore's asteroid.

She had died that day, there was no doubt about it. If it hadn't been for the Kisenian Flower, he would have been left a shattered man. No tether, no reason to live. Nothing but cold and emptiness inside him, a darkness that would consume and consume until it swallowed him whole.

Only one time...

Until now, that is.

Mamoru's knees completely gave out. He landed on the ground hard, with pain he couldn't even feel past the terrible nothing that suddenly overwhelmed his being.

She was gone.

He choked on a sob, a gasp, the absence of breath. The darkness threatened to take him there, drag him beneath the surface with never a hope for return, but somehow Mamoru fought back long enough to fumble and fish within his pockets for the black communicator Usagi had gifted him with not long after Galaxia's defeat. For in her words, it was downright crazy they had never had a definitive way to contact him in case of battle, and so she coerced Luna into making him his very own. He could still see the shining pride on her face, the sparkling smile as she held out his new communicator in the palm of her hands. He never had reason to use it...

Until now.

The trembling was a full-bodied affair he didn't even realize until this moment, when he discovered he couldn't even push the damn buttons. Numerous tries later, the Senshi's concerned faces lit up on his screen, and Mamoru uttered the sentence that would forever send a chill down every single one of their spines,

"Something- something terrible has happened to Usako!"

To Be Continued

Author's Note: Apologies for the long delay. I am still so excited about this story but real life kinda jumped me and beat me senseless there. Planning a wedding is A LOT of work and then I confess that even after the big day, other stories stole my interest for a while. I'm trying to be better and update EVERYTHING. Your patience is so very appreciated!

Big kisses to jessielee14, DistantStorm, Ruk, Roxypockets1, Isabella Poulous, Moon Bunny, FloraOne, Deadly Aura, usakomoonbunny, TheBloodyLoveOfSakuraHaruno, Guest (x2), Oreo596, and Tina Century... it's you guys who keep me going, so THANK YOU for your tireless motivation and love! I'm eager to hear what you think of this latest!

Until next chapter,

AngelMoon Girl