The day started out like any other rainy day, cold, wet, dark and gloomy. A little girl stood on a chair, looking out the front window of Serena's house as she left for school in the windy break in the storm.
Her name was Zenith, and she was seven.
She had black hair and green eyes and she was wearing a pink shirt with a bunny on the front and a pair of faded blue jeans, both of which were given to her by Serena the week before.
"Zenith dear." Serena's mother said from the kitchen. "Are you hungry? I'll cook you some breakfast."
"Thank you" she said, never turning her gaze from the window.
Ever since she was found by Serena in the park on that day a few weeks before, she had stayed in the house and been welcomed as one of the family, yet, now she was beginning to remember parts of her mysterious past, and she longed to know who she really was.
As she sat, watching the rain begin to fall again as it had all night, she pondered how it was she knew so much about Serena and her friends without ever having met them before.
She sat in the chair, resting her chin on the backs of her hands, her gaze never wavering from the view of the street.
Before she had gotten totally comfortable, she noticed a man standing across the street next to a bus stop.
As she turned to mention it to Serena's mother, she saw her on the floor, curled into a ball, seemingly asleep.
She leaped from the chair, rushing to her side as a strange voice from outside the front door mumbled in an unfamiliar language.
You must hide my child a sudden voice in her head said.
I have to help Mrs. Tsukino! she thought, looking for a phone.
No, she will be fine, you have to hide now the voice persisted.
The mumbling returned from behind the door again, this time answered from another louder voice.
Zenith stood, looking for a place to hide.
As she spotted the cabinets under the sink, she ran over to them, jumping inside and closing the cabinet doors just as the front door opened with a crash and a herd of booted feet filled the house.
She stayed in the cabinet under the sink for what seemed like forever, the drain pipes forcing her into a sitting position and making her legs cramp as she sat with her chin on her knees, curled up as small as she could go, wondering when someone would open the cabinet and stick their face in, before grabbing her by the arm and hauling her off to wherever it is they came from.
After what was an eternity in the darkness, not moving and being as quiet as she could, she realized the house was quiet.
They must be hiding and waiting for me to come out, but I can wait.
And so she waited, finally falling asleep in the darkness, feeling more alone than ever.
Darien meanwhile was jogging through a wet, cold city.
As he stopped on a foot bridge overlooking the waterway in the center of town, he noticed flashing lights toward Serena's house.
Not wasting any time, he sprinted off in a mad dash to find some answers.
Turning onto her block, he skidded to a halt behind a neighbor's house, noticing the police outside weren't police at all, but people dressed up like Tokyo's Finest.
"Why all the fuss over Serena's house?" he said to himself as he crouched to watch.
"I'm not sure myself." a voice said from behind him.
Darien turned to find a beautiful woman standing there, wearing faded jeans and a pink short sleeve shirt. Her long black hair whipped in the wind as she hugged herself, shivering.
"You must be freezing!" Darien said, standing up and grabbing her by the shoulders. "Come on, let's head back to my place where you can warm up and tell me what you're doing out here in this weather."
"If I didn't know you as well as I do, I'd almost take that as a date."
Darien just looked at her for a minute... suddenly realizing who she was and staring at her.
"You..."
"Grew up?" Zenith said, smiling.
"How..."
"Like I said, I'm not sure myself, I fell asleep under the sink and woke up out back and snuck off before those guys found me."
"Well, right now we gotta get you outta this weather." Darien decided, snapping out of his stupor.
"I think not."
Darien stopped, knowing the voice without seeing the face.
"Don't turn around Darien." Malachyte said, chuckling. "I got enough 'police officers' to with me to take care of you if you try anything funny."
Darien fumed inwardly. "What's wrong Malachyte, can't do your fighting yourself, so you gotta corrupt the locals to do it for you?"
Now it was Malachyte's turn to fume, and he did so in silence.
"You are truly a fool Tuxedo Mask, now give me the girl and maybe I'll let you live."
"No deal."
Malachyte silently scattered his newfound troops "Find the girl, I know he's stashed her somewhere."
Darien, looking right at Zenith, smiled and turned around, catching on as fast as she did.
"Yeah Malachyte, I got her hidden, and you'll NEVER find her."
"Is that so?" the Negaverse General asked, mocking failure. "I guess you have won Tuxedo Mask, I'm no match for you." He suddenly hit Darien in the side of the face, sending him sprawling onto the wet grass and sliding a few feet.
As Darien rose slowly to his knees, holding the side of his face, Malachyte laughed.
"Bah, you should be thankful I need you yet, or you would be dead now."
Suddenly, a huge form appeared behind Malachyte and spoke.
"Malachyte, report!" Queen Beryl's voice echoed across the neighborhood. "Have you found the girl?"
"Not yet my queen," Malachyte said over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off Darien as he slowly rose to his feet. "But I have a present for you."
"Ah, if it isn't Darien." Beryl said, smiling.
"He knows where the girls is your excellency."
"Then bring him to me, I know how to make him talk."
Just then, a small, edged throwing star appeared in the ground, scattering the image of Beryl and passing through Malachyte's cape before appearing in the earth next to Malachyte with a metallic ping.
"What the..." Malachyte looked up as did Darien.
Standing on a light pole was a man in a black ninja costume, holding three other throwing stars in his left hand, his right hand rested easily on a silver handled katana.
"The girl is not for you, evil one."
"And you are...?" Malachyte said, folding his arms across his chest.
"I am but a lowly guardian, but I am infinitely more powerful than you can dream."
"Ha, let us see just how powerful you are, fool!"
Malachyte suddenly blasted the ninja with a beam of energy from his hand, which the ninja easily dodged.
"I don't want to hurt you, evil one, simply leave and I will forget you just did that."
Malachyte simply scowled and began blasting beams at the ninja, who disappeared instantly, appearing behind the Negaverse General and hitting him on the back of the head with his elbow, knocking him out without a fight.
"I... know you..." Zenith said, trying to think, but coming up empty.
"Indeed my princess, you do, I am Eclipse, your loyal guardian." the ninja replied with a bow.
"I can't remember..."
"Yes my princess, I know... but we must go now, he will awake soon and he will not be happy."
"We can head for my place, they won't find us there so easily" Darien said.
And with a wave of his hand and a puff of smoke, they found themselves in Darien's apartment.
After about an hour, Darien, now sitting on his couch, nice and dry, ran the new facts through his boggled mind.
"Another dimension?" He repeated, still in disbelief.
The ninja, Eclipse, now unmasked to the top of his nose, ran his fingers through his silver hair.
"I think I remember... a beam... no, a bubble..." Zenith said, also dry now and sitting in a chair next to the ninja.
"Yes, the dimensional door used to bring you here looks similar to a 'bubble', unfortunately, there was a malfunction and you were de-aged as well as transported to this alternate dimension." The ninja explained for the fifth time.
"And in your Dimension..."
"Sailor Moon is dead, as is the Moon Palace... in fact, we have no moon, which is why we are so powerful, our gravity is different, we learned to compensate."
"Wow." Darien said, standing. "Well, if I said I understood everything you've told me, I'd be lying, but I'll help you get home."
With that, Darien transformed into Tuxedo Mask, and helped Zenith up.
"My guess is your real body is still at Serena's house."
"Correct Tuxedo Mask." Eclipse replied, covering his hair again with the top of his mask again and grabbing his sword from the table. "We must get her back there, and soon, so my people can retrieve her."
"What am I going to tell Serena and her family?"
"Tell them the truth" Zenith said after a few seconds."Tell them I went home."
"But what about the rest... the break-in..."
"That will be taken care of, now we must go." the ninja said, grabbing a small circular object from his belt.
The smoke again, and then, Serena's yard, now filled with brainwashed, angry police, their leader, Malachyte, stood at the front door, smiling.
"I knew you'd be back, but alas, I can't come out to play, I have to find something... make yourselves at home though with my friends."
As Malachyte shut the door, the police rushed the 2 guardians, Zenith simply walked around and headed for the door as the fight broke out.
Tuxedo Mask dodged the first punch, and tripped the second attacker, making sure not to hurt anyone, but trying to slow them down as much as possible.
Meanwhile the ninja simply dodged effortlessly, stepping this way and that, disappearing and reappearing seemingly at random.
While the battled, Zenith walked into the house. and saw Malachyte standing over the sink where she was hiding.
No she thought, suddenly appearing in her little body with a jolt just as Malachyte opened the doors.
"Here you are little one." He smiled, reaching for her.
Without hesitation, she kicked out with both feet, hitting him square in the nose and sending him sprawling backwards in pain.
She quickly crawled out and bolted for the door, but she stumbled as her cramped legs gave out from lack of circulation.
Malachyte grabbed her by a leg and hauled her up and outside with an evil laugh.
"Looks like it's a bit small, but I think I'll keep it anyway, it did put up such a good fight." He said to the two guardians as they finished off the police officers.
"Place her down gently and step away." Eclipse said, a hand going for his sword on reflex.
"I think not, ninja boy... I think I'll just hang on to her for a while."
As Zenith swung and kicked as best she could, Malachyte suddenly found himself holding his arm as Tuxedo Mask rapped it with his staff, catching Zenith and leaping to safety as Eclipse began to glow.
"No... No!" Malachyte said, aiming his open hand at the fleeing Tuxedo Mask.
"Millenium Silver Crystal Beam... Activate!"
A silver laser beam shot from the ninja's right hand, striking Malachyte in the chest.
As Malachyte gasped and disappeared into a dimensional portal, the ninja dropped to his knees in exhaustion.
"Eclipse!" Zenith stumbled over to the ninja, drawing off the mask.
"Queen Serenity?" Darien gasped, staring into the now unmasked ninja's face.
"Yes, I'm sorry Tuxedo Mask for deceiving you."
"So, you're not from another dimension?"
"No, from the future, and Zenith is nothing more than a lost child who was blasted into the past by an accidental test experiment.
"You see." She said, leaning back against a nearby tree, saving her strength. "Zenith is on of many orphans from the future who lost their parents in the war with the Negaverse. I've started taking them in and caring for them as my own.
"But the other day, we were conducting experiments related to time travel and portals, and she was accidentally sent here in a resulting explosion, and she was de-aged as she traveled.
"You see, she is actually twenty-seven Earth years old."
"So, I guess she has to go back with you?" Tuxedo Mask said, finally understanding.
"Actually..." Serenity looked at Zenith "It's up to you dear."
"You mean, I can stay?" She almost smiled, but the shock prevented that.
"That is why I came back myself, to find out, and so that I could wipe the memories of anyone who saw you in case you changed you decided to return."
"I'd love to stay... if I can."
"Of course my dear... but I sense lingering doubts."
Zenith stared into the grass as if looking through it.
"I wonder how I knew so much when I arrived, I mean the Sailor Scouts... the trouble with that Onslaught robot..."
"Simple my dear, everyone from the moon has a mental link, sort of a fail safe so we know each other, no matter what.
"But what of Tuxedo Mask?" He didn't know you, and I..."
You didn't remember because you weren't in your body when you saw me first, as for Tuxedo Mask, he wasn't born on the moon, so he wouldn't know unless I told him.
"So, I'm not a princess or a hero or anything?" Zenith said, looking into Serenity's eyes.
"I'm afraid not, but you will always be a princess to me... which reminds me..."
Serenity pulled a locket from her belt, handing it to Zenith, who suddenly burst into tears, grabbing it and hugging her while she sobbed.
"A locket with pictures of her parents I assume." Darien, now in normal form said, as Serenity looked at him, smiling.
"Yes, always a step ahead."
"You should go." Zenith said, suddenly standing and wiping her eyes on her shirt. "Serena will be home soon and if she saw you, it wouldn't be good."
"Indeed." Serenity stood, smiling. "Farewell you two, take care of each other."
As Serenity disappeared in a puff of silver smoke, Darien looked around, noticing nothing unusual. No police, no signs of fighting, nothing but the rain and wind.
"Zenith dear... Darien!" Serena's mother said from the doorway. "Get in here, you'll catch cold out in that storm."
"Looks like things are back to normal." Darien said, walking the the little girl back inside the house.
"Darien!" Serena's voice called from behind him and he just turned in time to catch her as she collided with him.
As the three walked toward the house, Darien dropped back a step and turned to look across the street.
He smiled as he saw the black figure in a tree, and noticed the rain could not hide her tears as she waved and disappeared, this time in a silver flash.
"Yeah, I know." he said, turning and walking into the house. "She misses you too."