Title: Love Isn't Always Deadly

Author: baby bunnie

Rated: PG-13

Genre: Romance/Horror

Episode One: Lost, now found.

The air was vapid and sultry. Darkness stretched beyond one's imaginations. The World Beyond was strangely deafening, even though it was ironically quiet. Death hung in the unstirring air as a hooded shape glided towards the towering castle in the distance.

The Night Palace, built of stones of human blood, loomed above the Land and past the Edge Point and beyond.

The shadowy figure lifted its head and looked at the guard at the gate with dark, raven pupils, not once taking down its hood. The figure made a hand signal. The guard nodded and opened the Forbidden Gates. Without hesitating, it glided in.

Past the Forbidden Gates, the figure increased its speed and moved into the darkness, allowing it to swallow everything in its path, including the figure itself.

~

The metal doors stood menacingly in the darkness as the silhouette knocked quietly on the door. The quiet gesture created quite a clamor in the silencing darkness. The doors opened and mists of red-hot fumes poured out. The figure seems quite unaffected by the air and walked in.

The throne room, even with mists of fumes swirling everywhere, was quite impressive in its own way of glamor. Spacey and sullen, the brownish-reddish floor was soft, yet hard. Steps led up to the throne where The Dark Lord sat, staring down at hooded figure with dark, stormy blue eyes.

"What is it?" The cold, sharp voice penetrated the darkness and bounced off unseen walls.

The Lord was sitting on the throne; eerie darkness and strange shadows muffled his face form. His dark, stormy blue eyes shone down at the figure.

"We've found her Darien." The figure lifted a hand to its hood and pulled it down gracefully, only to reveal a young woman's face as her hair tumbled down. She smiled at the Lord happily. "We've finally found her!" She shook her beautiful black hair and smoothed it out. Her dark eyes met the Lord's shocked ones and laughed.

Another hooded creature walked in the Throne Room. Turning to look at the dark-haired young lady, it pulled its hood down and revealed her face. It was another young woman, with long blonde hair put up in a red bow and sparkling blue eyes a shade lighter than the sky on a warm sunny day. Smiling slightly, she faced the Lord.

"Found her?" The Lord echoed. Images of Her rushed into his mind; young, innocent, and beautiful… the night she died… He winced as the memories came back. How he tried to save her, and everything else that followed. He had mourned centuries for her death, knowing she would return, but he didn't expect it to be so sudden.

"You have?" He was shocked beyond words, she was back, and she was his, he would make sure of that personally. "Where is she? Have you hurt her in any way? Is she all right? What does she look like? What's--" He was interrupted by a series of giggles. "What?" He asked, annoyed.

"I haven't seen you this worked up since the day she-"

The young woman with black hair thrust her hand forward and covered the other's mouth. "Are you crazy Mina? Have you forgotten? The Rule?" She hissed in her ear.

The blonde girl, Mina, sighed. "No I haven't Raye. It's just that--" Again, she was stopped by another hiss in her ear.

"Recite the rule." She demanded.

Mina frowned, annoyed. "The Rule of the Goddess. 'No one is ever to mention anything about Her.' The Lord had made this rule official since the day she died." She managed in a whisper, throwing worried glances at the now frowning Ruler.

"Good. And don't forget Mina." She glared at her.

"Stop getting so worked up. You must remember that The Lord had assigned us as her Protectors, and we failed. We failed, Raye." Mina whispered.

"Shush! I know that! Why do you think we have been looking for her for so long?" She wrinkled her nose at the thought.

"What are you two mumbling about? Speak up!" The loud demand startled the two girls and shook the walls of the castle.

"Sir." A gentle, soothing voice of yet another hooded creature rang in the silence.

The two girls turned around. "Amy!" They cried.

"Yes?" The figure named Amy took off her hood and calm, blue eyes laughed silently at the two petrified girls. "What are you three getting so worked up about?" Turning to the Lord, she said, "Would you like to see her? Darien?" She grinned slightly.

With her natural blue hair and very clever mind, Amy was always the calm one, no matter what the situation. Over the years, she had been the one to calm down the Lord whenever he got worked up over particular things, especially after her death. Amy's code was Blue.

Mina was the bubbly one, almost able to find happiness among anything. Her long blonde hair was always put up with a red bow, and soft bangs brushed across her light blue eyes. Her code was Orange.

Raye had a temper that most people wouldn't want to come across. With her fiery black hair and dark purple eyes that are often mistaken for black, she was easily a Code Red. Raye also has a sixth sense, which makes her leader of the Reds.

There was another girl. Another protector of Her. Her name was Lita. She had shoulder-length hazel hair and eyes a shade darker than pure emerald. Being quite tall and great at cooking, she was easily classified as a Code Green.

And She. She was simply a Code Silver. The first Silver since Time had its chance.

~

Serena Tsukino was your average 16-soon-to-be 17-year-old girl, even though she couldn't remember her birth parents. She was adopted by a rich couple when she was just a baby.

Serena was in her room when Amy came.

"Ugh… math… whoever invented it is going to hear a lot from me…" She groaned as she stared at the problems that laid in front of her. She was tired, dead tired. It had been days since she has had a decent sleep; she had been having nightmares for days. No… that wouldn't be right. Dreams, not nightmares. Strange dreams. She thought quietly. Dreams of longing and wanting. She continued.

A warm furry thing jumped onto her lap, startling her out of her daydreams. "Oh Luna… what's happening to me? I feel like a whole different person since the day those dreams began…" She mumbled. The sleek black cat cocked her head to one side, as if indicating that she understood.

Serena giggled. "Where did you learn such tricks Luna?" Luna looked out the window.

Serena sighed. "Goddess… I am sick of this! No more math for me! Not today anyway…" She got out of her chair and flung herself on the bed. Her eyelids felt heavy and within a minute, she had fallen asleep.

Then the dreams came.

She was in a room, sitting on the bed, thinking of something. Something her subconscious doesn't want to remember.

The room was beautiful; silver walls that seem to shine with a magical glow and smooth crystallised floors that were half-transparent. The furniture was built of rich oak and the bed was soft and comfortable.

The sense of longing and wanting came again and she stood up. Walking to the balcony, she slid open the glass-door and walked out, looking up at the night sky. It was a full moon, and the moonlight shone down into the garden below. Shadows covered most of the grounds and made it look eerie. This is so strange… Serena thought to herself. I've always woken up when I opened the balcony doors…

She looked down into the shrubbery, eyes searching the shadows for something. Or is it someone? Her subconscious prodded her. Something moved, and she jumped, or her subconscious did, and she slowly turned her head towards an old willow tree. Adjusting her eyes to the dark, she looked down.

R-r-r-r-r-r-ring!

Serena jumped up and looked around, confused. R-r-r-r-ring! Her eyes shone recognition as she realized she was back in her room. The phone was ringing, and the curtains flowing in the breeze. Luna was obviously unhappy as she got shaken off when Serena jumped. Shaking off the strange feelings from her dream, she picked up the phone.

"Tsukino Residence. May I help you?"

Serena frowned. "Hello?" There was no one on the other end. "Hello?" She tried again, annoyed that this had woken her up from her dream. She had almost found out what she was looking for. Sighing, she put down the receiver. She sat down on the bed and was just about to try and go back to sleep when she heard something. It was so soft that she wouldn't have heard it under normal circumstances. But this wasn't normal. It was the soft tap of footsteps, as if they were landing somewhere, in this case, in her room.

"Serenity?"

She froze, not wanting to turn around; hoping this was a dream. But that's not right… I just woke up! Her mind cried. Serena ignored her mixed feelings and turned around slowly.

It was a young girl, looking about the same age as her, with wise blue eyes and short blue hair. She had a soft smile of recognition on her lips and held out a hand as if for her to shake. Serena stared at her, narrowing her blue eyes.

She laughed, a soothing sound, like the sound of waves when you go to the beach. "My name is Amy. Nice to meet you." She held out a hand.

Serena kept her suspicions to herself and held out a hand. The girl, Amy, looked harmless enough. Her mind though, was going crazy.

"What name do you go by? Serenity?" She was speaking again.

"Why should I tell you?" Serena blurted, all etiquette forgotten. "I mean, you just 'poof' here just like that. How did you get in anyway?"

Amy was raising her eyebrows, much to Serena's surprise. "I'm Andrew's friend. Haven't you heard him mention me before?"

Once again, the girl got into Serena's good side. "Wait… Amy…?"

"Mizuno." She smiled. "Amy Mizuno."

Serena's eyes lighted up at the name. Andrew had talked about her before. Once. "Oh!" She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry…, my name is Serena Tsukino, long time visitor to the Crown Arcade."

Amy nodded in response.

"Well, uh… how did you get in?" Serena rubbed her hands together.

"The door." She said simply.

"Oh." Serena felt stupid. How else would one come in?

Amy must have noticed her embarrassment and quickly added, "Andrew told me all about you so I decided to pay you a visit. The door was unlocked, so I came in." She smiled a knowing smile. "I'm so sorry if I interrupted anything important."

Serena was stunned by her politeness. "Oh no!" She cried and grabbed the girl's arm. "You have to come to the arcade with me. I need to get away from those." She nodded towards the math books.

Amy laughed again and there was a sort of pleasant feeling in that laugh, like they knew each other form a long time ago. Serena shook her head, pushing unimportant things to the back of her mind. With Serena leading the way, the two walked out her room and down the stairs. She stopped to retrieve the house keys, and they walked out of the house.

~

"So… do you think she'll have some kind of memory jolt when she sees us?" Lita was asking, flipping her brown hair back. Raye shrugged. Lita sighed and looked out the window wistfully at a couple walking hand in hand. Her eyes filled with anger and her hands curled into a fist, knuckles pale white. Someone gripped her fist and she looked up, blinded my fury.

"Hey…" It was Mina, and she was looking towards the blonde-haired young man at the counter. "Don't destroy that fragile spell we've cast on Andrew. If you get angry in front of him, he might snap out of the spell, and we all know none of us will be able to take that. After all, the spell feeds off our life energy. Remember, this friendship between Andrew, "She nodded at the man. "Was created in order to obtain information about Serenity."

The bell rang, signalling someone had entered, and Lita looked up, eyes cleared and calm. The three girls smiled as Amy walked in with the Lady trailing quietly behind her. Mina stood and smoothed out any offending wrinkles on her hazel skirt and cat-walked towards the two. Seeing her leader get up, Lita followed, Raye behind. Amy was grabbing Serena's hand and waving a cheerful hello to Andrew, sitting down at the counter stools. Serena followed, calling for the 'usual'.

She must come here a lot. Lita thought reasonably as Andrew leaned over and started teasing her. She was blushing. Lita leaned towards Raye and nudged her. Raye shook her head. "She doesn't have a crush on him. I'd say she looks up to him like an older sibling." Lita sighed in relief.

Mina was plopping herself on a stool next to Serena and was smiling at her, her bubbly personality covering up her usual leadership. As Lita neared, she caught bits and pieces of the conversation.

"So you're the Serena we've been hearing so much about." She winked at Andrew. He blushed. Lita grinned. Mina and her seductress act. She shook her head at the blonde hopelessly.

Serena's face grew red too, and she shook her head furiously. "Are you guys new in town?"

"Oh, we're just old-time friends of Andy's." Lita smiled at Serena and studied her china-doll face. Beautiful as before. Tears were building at the back of her eyes. She wanted to run up to her and hug her, bring her back to Darien's side. A kick from Raye snapped her out of her senses and she swallowed, forcing the tears back.

Serena was looking at her now expectantly. She laughed inwardly, remembering that curious look. "My name is Lita, and this is Raye." She pointed to Raye. "And I'm sure you know Amy and Mina."

She nodded.

Mina butted in, making Lita want to chuckle. "So, do you have a boyfriend?" The smile on everyone's face dimmed, except for Mina's.

"No…" She looked away.

"Whoo!" Mina grabbed her shoulders and patted her back. "Neither do we! Go singles!" Se thrust a fist into the air and made Serena laugh. Lita sighed. Close call. Always rely on Mina to bring them in a situation but not out. Miracles do happen. She thought.

"Anyway, you want to go see the guy we work for? You know? THE big guy?" She put her face in her chin and looked at Serena.

"Sure." Serena got up and followed Mina… to the bathroom. Confusion appeared in the young girl's eyes and Lita lengthened her pace, feeling Raye's steady pace behind her. Lita bit her lip and cocked her head to one side. The signal for Amy to prepare the potion, and for Raye to grab Serena if needed.

"You guys," Serena was saying. "What's going on? I thought we were going to go meet your boss?"

"We are, Serena." Lita took her arm firmly, knowing that Serena's faint suspicion before has enlarged to unbelievable proportions. Serena was struggling as they reached the bathroom and flung the door open, all five of them crowded into the small stall.

"Let go of me! What are you doing?!" Serena was panicking now. Not a good sign. Lita nodded at Raye and both pounced on her, holding her against the door.

Mina was talking to her in an urgent voice, cheerful personality long gone. "Serena, listen to me. We are your friends, your protectors. And we want you to trust us." She looked at Amy, who snapped her fingers, making a small bottle appearing out of thin air. Serena was staring, voice hoarse from screaming. Amy was pulling out the cork and walking towards Serena. Lita felt nervousness growing in her chest. She couldn't bear to see her Lady like that. She stepped out, letting Serena go. Raye cried out in alarm as she was knocked aside.

"No!" Lita cried as a streak of blue light shot past her. The spell hit the door just as Serena grabbed the handle. Lita heard her surprised gasp as she tried to open the door. She flipped around, eyes wild with panic. Lita turned away, tears rolling down her eyes. "No!" She cried again, throwing a hand in the air and flinging it sideways. "Mina, there has GOT to be a better way. Didn't Darien say not to make her upset?" Mina was frowning now. "Look at her! Does she look happy to you? Does she look willing to go with us?"

"Darien did not say anything about her being willing, just not upset." Mina crossed her arms.

"MINA! That's the same thing, you and I both know it!" Lita was getting frustrated and tears kept blurring her vision.

"Lita. I too do not want to upset Serenity, but look at her. I mean, look at her!" Mina grabbed Lita by the shoulders and whipped her around. Lita's eyes widened at the sight of Serena, who was sobbing uncontrollably at the door, blonde hair a mess. Lita turned away. She didn't want to see. "You see?" Mina was hugging her, and Lita couldn't move, do anything.

Amy was whipping up a spell when Lita's crying finally ceased to occasional sniffs. Raye was helping her, being a half witch and all. Mina nodded at her, giving her permission to help. Lita joined the making of spell, casting her own energy into the void. The round ball of energy was emitting a calm feeling in the restroom, and Lita felt immediately better. Remembering Serena, she slowly turned around to look at her. Serena was swaying gently, with Mina by her side. She slumped to the ground, jelly-like, and her eyes blanked. Amy took the bottle and pulled out the cork once again, crouching beside Serena. Holding her chin back, she put the bottle on Serena's lips and tipped it slowly, watching the liquid flow into her half-opened mouth. Lita watched as Serena's eyes closed slowly and Amy threw the bottle in the trash. The ball dimmed and dispersed in the air as she stumbled towards the three figures at the door, knowing that Raye was beside her. Amy was getting up, and she was smiling.

"Let's go." Mina snapped her fingers at the wall and the portal appeared. Lita hesitated before stepping through the black hole. She felt someone put their hand on her shoulder and turned around. "Raye… what is it that you've figured out that we don't know?"

Raye was looking at her strangely, with something like surprise in her eyes. "So, you sensed me? Was I that obvious?"

"Not really." Lita replied. "I just felt that you were suppressing something."

She could tell Raye was trying hard not to smile when she responded, "I thought Amy would be the one to figure it out first, given the strange circumstances of Serenity's previous death. But it looks like she haven't yet."

Lita frowned. What was Raye getting at? She pointed that out loud.

"Think, Lita. How can a mere mortal like Serenity was be reborn this quickly?" She whirled around lazily and walked through the portal. Understanding filled Lita. Everything was wrong, and this information… Darien did not know about it. Raye and I… She thought, fear doubling her over. We're the only ones who know… She stepped through the portal, mind troubled more than her heart.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Good? Bad? Don't hold back on the criticism. I'd like to improve my stories in anyway possible. Thanks for taking the time to read!

~ Dani