Nephlite lurched, suddenly, falling to his knees as the thorns once more impaled his shoulder. "Molly--" he gasped, clutching at the wounds, "Molly--leave here! Go! Run! Don't worry about me!"

"Noooooooo!!"...

..."Molly? Molly, are you okay?!"

Molly sat bolt upright in her bed, as Serena sat back on her own, staring at her friend in concern and removing the hand she had been reaching to shake the distraught girl. Tears were tracking down Molly's cheeks as her mind was slowly released from the terror and pain of the dream. Luna nuzzled her hand in concern. "I--Serena--I--"

"You--were screaming in your sleep," Serena said softly, scooting off her bed to sit on the edge of the futon, hugging her friend. "Was it a nightmare?"

Molly sighed, rubbing the tears from her eyes half-angrily. "Yeah, I guess. The dreams never start out bad, but they--always--"

"What was it about?"

Molly bowed her head. "I don't guess you would really understand, Serena. I know you were the one who kept telling me that Ne--Maxfield was a bad person, but I--"

Serena grimaced. "Er--ah--you were dreaming about him? What about, ah, Melvin? I thought that you and he were--"

Molly shook her head, raising her eyes to look at Serena again, one more tear falling down her cheek. "Oh, Serena, it--it's just not the same." Molly bit her lip, turning to stare out the window of Serena's room hugging her knees to her chest. "Melvin's sweet and all, but-- "

Serena glanced at Luna. The cat shrugged helplessly. "Maxfield--uh--just vanished. He--ah--"

Molly shook her head. "He's dead, Serena. He died because he was trying to help me." Her shoulders slumped. "Didn't I tell you about him?"

"I--yes, but--"

"I suppose only Sailor Moon and her friends will really understand," Molly rubbed at her eyes with the sleeve of her pajamas again. "They saw--"

"Molly, I--" Serena looked at Luna. "Molly, I'm--ah--S--"

Molly shook her head. "Never mind. I should just try to--forget it." She looked at the clock. "7 A.M. Guess we should start to get ready for school."

Serena groaned, flopping back down on her pillows. "Oh no. What about another five minutes, huh?"

* * * * * * * *

"So, when is your mother due back in town, Molly?" asked Ami as the girls walked towards the Crossroads Junior High, Serena yawning every other step.

"Day after tomorrow," Molly said. "It was really nice of Serena's parents to invite me to stay with them, though."

Ami chucked. "I imagine they would like you to stay there all the time. This is the fourth day in a row that Serena hasn't been late."

Molly laughed lightly. "Yeah. Miss H asked me if Serena was sick or something."

"Ooooo," Serena growled, glaring at Molly.

"Hey guys!" said Lita trotting up to their side, a huge grin on her face, a Polaroid in her hand. "Can I join you? I brought a camera; I'm going to send a picture of Serena being on time to the paper."

"I don't appreciate this, guys," grumbled Serena, kicking at a post in annoyance.

The other three laughed and kept walking towards the school. "Hey, girls! Hey, Meatball-head! On time again?"

"Darien! I thought that you promised never to call me that again," Serena whined, turning to glare at Darien, who was approaching from one side, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his green jacket.

The elder boy laughed, raising his hands. "Okay, Serena, I'm sorry." He glanced at Ami and Lita significantly, then smiled and winked at them all. "Have a nice day."

Serena watched him walk off and sighed. "Ah! He can be so dreamy when he's not being mean!"

"Not my type," Lita said lightly, giggling and aiming the camera at his retreating backside anyways.

"Hey!" Serena dove at Lita, who laughingly dodged.

After a moment, Molly stared at Serena. "I though you liked Andrew and Tuxedo Mask."

Serena stopped chasing the taller girl, who stuck out her tongue. Giggling in a high pitched voice, and tucked an arm behind her head. "I--yes, but I can look, can't I?"

Ami sighed and shook her head as the three girls continued. Once they reached the school, they stopped, seeing a truck and an expensive looking black sedan parked to one side of the school auditorium. "What're they for?" asked Molly, peering at the vehicles curiously.

"Neh? Oh," said Ami. "That is probably the group of Americans and Europeans who are here for a month or two as part of the Arts exchange program. They are here to put on concerts and to hold workshops for the local students. Our school gets them for this week." All the girls stopped to look.

"Where'd you find out about that?" asked Serena, bouncing on her toes and trying to peer past Lita.

"The newspaper; there was an article about the Arts program in there yesterday."

"I saw it too," said Lita, tucking her camera into her backpack. "That's the real reason I brought the camera; don't you ever read the paper, Serena?"

"The comics. I mean--why would I want to read the news, anyway? It's so boring."

Ami and Lita sighed in unison, but they all turned their attention back to the strange vehicles as someone came out of the side-door of the auditorium and bent over the trunk of the car. The slender man rummaged for something for a long time, bits of what was probably muttered curses carrying to where they stood. Abruptly, he straightened, though his face was still away from the group. He groaned a little, rubbing at the small of his back as he pulled out a smallish black case and closed the trunk. "I don't know what he looks like in the front," Lita said in a slow, approving voice, her eyes fixed on him, "but the back is certainly nice enough."

The man was tall, wearing a neat pair of black slacks and a full-sleeved red silk shirt. His hair was a yellow-blonde, cut fairly short in the front and long in the back in the style so often popular amongst the Americans. He pulled a black leather coat off the roof of the car, along with a wireless headset, putting them both on, and turning slightly as he did so, giving the four girls a view of his face.

"It's Jedite!" gasped Ami, a hand flying to her chest as she stepped back.

"Who's Jedite?" asked Molly, her brow crinkling in confusion, though she felt a tinge of recognition.

"Umm--" said Serena, starting to sweat slightly.

Before she could get any further, another man came around the side of the truck, one slender hand holding his headset in place on his head. "Testing! Spam one, two, three." This man was a bit taller, with platinum hair falling loosely around his shoulders. He wore dark blue pants and a jacket, but wore a gray silk shirt. Malachite.

The man who resembled Jedite broke out in a wide grin, laughing. "Spam?" he spluttered, laughing harder, his voice hinted with some odd mix of accents, leaning over and resting his free hand on his thigh, tittering. His Japanese was very good, almost without an accent.

The Malachite look-alike shrugged fluidly, resettling his headset. "It has all the problem sounds, you know, Jared; those S’s and P’s."

"All right, Malcolm. Spam Spam Spam Spam Spam--"

"Enough with the Spam, already," said a husky female voice as another person rounded the corner of the truck. "You're making me sick."

She was tall for a woman, with an angular face and golden-blonde hair in a single thick braid to her mid-back and bright green eyes. She wore a dark gray pants suit with a high-banded collar; almost like a uniform--and she could have stood in for Zoisite any day--except for the broad smile and the hint of a German accent to her words. "All right, Zoë, all right," said the almost white-haired one with another smile. "Spackle, perhaps?"

"You guys," 'Zoë' said with a laugh. "Come on; Nathan's warming up already. We're not going to start easy this morning."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," said 'Jared,' opening the case he was holding and pulling out the upper joint of an oboe, peering down the barrel of it before pulling out a pencil. "What are we starting with so I can get out the right instrument."

'Zoë' shrugged, turning to push up the back door to the truck and pull out a flat, black cloth case, opening it to check on several felt-headed mallets. "I don't know. You'd have to ask Bridgette to be sure. Come on." She closed the back of the truck.

A piercing violin wail rang through the air and a fourth person walked around the truck. His dark auburn hair was back in a tail that fell to a bit below his shoulders over a black sports coat and green silk shirt. Blue eyes gleamed with mirth as he removed the bow from the strings and lowered his hand to tap the bow on the knee of his black slacks. Nephlite. "Well, now. May I join you? Bri's been in there doin' something arcane or other with the sound wiring screamin' in some language or other," he chuckled, his deep voice flavored with an Irish lilt. "I figured on getting' out 'fore I got turned into something nasty."

Molly clutched at Serena's arm, tears filling her eyes. "Serena, it--it's--"

"Well, Nathan, I suppose we should actually get in before Bri uses the wires to string us up somewhere," said 'Jared' with a wink. "I imagine she could use a sound check."

"Beats me," said Zoë. "I never could get those damn connections just right like she can."

As the three of them started to walk off, Nathan shrugged. "Aye, well, she's been at it considerably longer, hasn't she, then?"

The four girls were silent a moment, then Molly turned a tear-streaked face to the others. "That was--was Nephlite. And the woman--she--she's the one who killed--"

Serena thumped down onto a nearby bench, her fist in her hair, sending it tumbling from its normal strange style. "This is what happens when you're on time to school."

* * * * * * * *

Rei glanced at Ami. "You're kidding, right?"

The shorthaired girl shook her head. "I wish I were, Rei, but I'm not." She glanced over to make sure Molly wasn't listening. The red-haired girl was concentrating on a video game with Serena, though, being watched over by Andrew. "But it looks like the Negaverse generals, at least, we revived along with us."

"I am wondering who this 'Bridgette' person is," Luna muttered. "You said you didn't get a good look at her?"

"No," said Lita, shaking her head. "We were too far back in the auditorium from then this morning, and our class doesn't get them to teach us until tomorrow."

"And I couldn't used my computer with Molly sitting right there," said Ami.

"Her back was mostly to us, anyway. All we could see was long red hair, and hear her voice when she sang, of course. She's very good!" said Lita.

"I don't like this. That could be Queen Beryl, singing or not," said Luna. "We need to find out where they are staying, and watch them."

* * * * * * * *

"Nathan," murmured a silky woman's voice, "is your shoulder still bothering you as badly as it was earlier today?"

Nathan stopped, in the wood-paneled hallway of the house that he and his friends and their mentor were living in while in Tokyo, and turned to face Bridgette. She and Malcolm straightened from tuning the piano in the "practice" room, brushing old wood-dust from their clothes. "Aye, Bri', and I can't for the life of me think what I've done to the bloody thing."

Bridgette Corwyn brushed the dust from the front of her simple blue dress and wandered over to him, gesturing to a nearby sofa. "Go on and sit there a moment before you go, Nathan; I want to have a look."

The auburn-haired man sat on the edge of the sofa, sighing and unbuttoning the top few buttons of his shirt. Malcolm perched on a nearby chair, his silver eyes trained on his friend in concern. Bridgette tucked a wave of her thickly silvered, fiery hair behind her ear, and sat next to Nathan, carefully pulling back the blue silk collar of the shirt. Her dark blue eyes widened and she gasped. "Bloody hell! Nathan, don't tell me you don't know where that came from!"

Nathan turned his head and looked--and his jaw dropped open. "Holy shit!" Malcolm said, jumping out of his chair and stepping closer, peering in shock.

Nathan's right shoulder was a mess of bruises, mottled black and purple, threaded through with unhealthy looking red. "No. No, I don't know where that came from. Hell, Bri', you've been with me most of the time."

"It looks like you've been prodding your arm with a jack hammer," Malcolm said with a wince, placing a slender hand on Nathan's good shoulder.

"It feels like it, too, Mal, I can assure you."

Bridgette shook her head, distress in her eyes. "Damn. Well, then, I can put some of my salve on it, but I don't know if it'll help any." She got up and wandered over to the pile of luggage still stacked to one side of the front door, rummaging in an old-looking tapestry cloth bag before returning with a length of gauze bandage and a pottery jar of a spicy smelling salve. "Just try not to get into any fights with a giant woodpecker again, mm?"

Nathan laughed, then sighed contentedly as Bridgette began to gently rub the spicy-smelling, numbing cream into the damaged areas. "I'll try and remember that. Feels great, as usual, though, Bri." He grinned widely at his mentor as she worked. "Can I still go out an' play, Mummy?"

Bridgette laughed and playfully swatted his good shoulder and closed the jar, dropping it back in the bag and wiping her fingers on a rag Malcolm handed her. "Fine! Go then! Leave you're white-haired, loony teacher here with her equally loony ward! Go have fun like the other two; get lost in Tokyo! See if we care!"

Nathan exchanged a wink with Malcolm over Bridgette's head as she started to wrap a bracing bandage around his shoulder. "I only hope I can find someone as interesting as you two out there."

"I know you," said Malcolm, shaking a finger at him with an eager grin on his face, placing his arm around Bri's shoulders and winking, "You are going to go and find the nearest source of chocolate; you addict."

Nathan gestured dismissively, grinning hugely as Bridgette secured the bandage and tugged his shirt back into place. "Mea culpa."

Bridgette sighed. "That should hold you. If it starts hurting again, find yourself a sling, all right?"

"Thank you, Bri'," he said, stooping to give her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back later!" He winked at Malcolm once more while he re-buttoned his shirt. "You two behave now."

Bridgette laughed, but her eyes weren't completely touched by her humor. "Nathan, I'm old enough to--" she sighed, chuckling.

Nathan chuckled once more, then kissed Bridgette on the cheek again, helping her to her feet. "Later, then. Don' do anythin' I wouldn't."

"There's something you wouldn't do?" Malcolm shot back.

Nathan grinned. "That's Zoë and Jared you're thinking of, Mal."

* * * * * * * *

Molly sighed deeply, frowning and sitting back in her chair. "Serena, I still don't understand why you're so worried about those musician people that were at our school today," she said, playing with the straw that was in her soda. "It--couldn't be--those people I told you about."

"Molly, I--" Serena glanced over at Rei's headshake, then sighed. "It, um--it's because we--ah--"

"Look!" whispered Ami.

They all turned to see the Nephlite look-alike walking into the cafe, rubbing at his shoulder a little as he scanned the crowd. He walked over to the counter, squinting up at the menu with a frown as if he were puzzling it out. He grinned suddenly, stepping forward to the counter and murmured something to the clerk, passing over a handful of yen. The clerk returned with one of the cafe's popular "Death by Chocolate" sundaes, and the tall man's face split into a wide grin. He winked, and leaned forward, saying something else which sent the young girl behind the counter into a blushing round of giggles. He saluted with the bowl, smiled, then turned to scan the cafe for a seat.

It was very busy for a Wednesday night, and there were very few empty chairs in the place. Serena felt a claw in her sock and she looked down to see Luna peering up at her. "Now's our chance; offer him that seat by you," the cat muttered. "We need to get a good look at him; ask him things."

"I--ah--"

Mina looked up from the dark-furred cat, then put on her best smile, standing and waving cheerfully at him. "There's a seat here, if you want."

He walked over with a smile on his face. "My thanks t' you of course, lasses," he said, carefully setting his sundae down. "I'm Nathan Malley; part of the group Wayfarer, here from Ireland to--"

"You were at our school today," said Ami abruptly, smiling.

"Was I then? Well, I suppose I will be seeing you all again, then."

"Not me," said Rei, eyeing him a bit suspiciously. "I go to a different school." She pushed her long hair from her eyes as Nathan turned his jewel-toned eyes to her curiously. "So does Mina."

"Ah. Oh well, then. Maybe I'll be seeing the two of you later, mm?" He sat carefully, wincing as he jarred his left arm a bit hard on the edge of the table.

"My name is Ami, and this is Lita, Rei, Mina, Serena, and Molly."

Nathan looked at them each in turn with a smile, but the smile faded a little as he peered at Molly, a bit of confusion spreading into his warm blue eyes. "Pleasure, of course." He picked up a spoon and took a bite of his sundae and raised an eyebrow. "They weren't joking with the name of this, were they?" he said with a slight laugh, though his eyes strayed back to Molly again.

"Nope," said Serena, glancing at the completely silent Molly.

Nathan chuckled, but his brow was creased a bit with worry, or perhaps confusion. He took another bite, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Serena, "So, do you all like what you heard of us this morning?"

"Umm--yeah! It's nice," said Lita. "You're very good. How--ah--long have you been playing?"

Nathan paused, a spoonful halfway to his mouth. "Hmmm; that would be close after 14 years now."

They all blinked. "How--did you join such a group?"

Nathan chuckled, some of the tension leaving him, as his face turned into a fond, remembering look. "That's easy enough to tell, I suppose. Bridgette's a very renowned teacher of music and so on, leastwise, in Europe and America, and a good many years back, she began a sort of scholarship fund to seek out young talent. I won one year in Ireland and got to go to her school when I was 8." He took another bite. "Bri and I--we sort of meshed well, I guess. Malcolm--the one on the keyboards this morning, he was an orphan in America when he won a couple of years before me--sort of took to me too, and since Bridgette took over his guardianship...well, there is something to be said for family." He munched thoughtfully a moment, then spoke up again. "Jared, the blonde, he won in oboe a year after I did in America--and Zoë for voice a year later in Germany. There's other winners and people who pay to go to school there, but the four of us sort of got in special with Bridgette, I suppose. Now we're a regular group; go everywhere together." He set his spoon down a moment to rub at his shoulder.

"No arguing or fighting?" asked Rei.

Nathan gave her an odd look, then shook his head. "Nothing serious, no; we've...well, there's been enough troubles in all of our lives, that we don't need to get angry at each other." He grimaced, setting down his spoon to massage his shoulder.

"Does--your arm hurt?" asked Molly softly, suddenly.

He stopped rubbing, his hand just resting on his shoulder, and looked at her a moment before answering. "I--bruised it up a bit. No worry, though." He frowned, then released his shoulder and turned back to the remains of his sundae.

"Oh."

Nathan finished his sundae and cleared his throat into an uncomfortable silence at the table. "I hate to eat and run, ladies, but--I look forward to seeing at least some of you again."

"Uh--sure! No problem! Feel free to come sit with us any time!" blurted Serena.

Nathan looked at her for a moment, frowned then shook his head. "I don't suppose I've seen you before, Miss Serena, have I? I've the queerest feeling..."

Serena laughed in a high-pitched nervous tone. "Me? Oh no! I never go anywhere without a disgu--ow!" She stopped as Luna bit her ankle, glaring down at the cat.

Nathan frowned, his face taught, but he pushed forward a half-smile. "Well, I'm off now." His head cocked to one side, and a fond smile touched his lips, warming the confused eyes. "Though Jared would likely mention that I've been 'off' since I was a wee boy." He looked at them once more, then took his dish back to the counter and left the cafe, his hand back at his shoulder.

* * * * * * * *

"I'm telling you, Bri', it's crazy," Nathan said urgently into the cellular phone as he strode down the mostly vacated street. "There they were; the whole bunch of people from those odd dreams I've been having for a couple of months now." He rubbed at his right shoulder with the knuckles of the hand holding the phone. "Especially the one--"

"Nathan, I--"

He stopped in his hurried walk abruptly, staring at a turnstile gate into a darkened park with a deep frown on his face. "A--I--I'll call y' back, Bri'. I--found that park, the one where I dreamed..."

"Nathan--"

He hung up before Bridgette could finish, pushing through the gate and into the park. He looked around in confusion for a moment, not sure of where to go, then he started a slow walk through the trees, looking around. "Everything's so bloody familiar," he muttered to himself. "I suppose I must have hit my head this morning--maybe it's the airplane food--" he shook his head, stopping abruptly to shove a hand into his hair in a gesture of perplexment, looking around himself. "If I'm not a bloody lunatic, that is; crawling around a bloody park in the middle of the night." He sighed, crossing to a tree and sitting with his back against the trunk as he shoved the phone back into his jacket pocket. He shoved a hand under the lapel of his jacket to rub at his shoulder.

His hand encountered a sticky, warm dampness in the area of the worst pain. Startled, he pulled his hand out and peered at it in the faint glow from the streetlights. Blood. "What in--" He carefully eased the jacket off his bad shoulder and stared at the dark stain on his shoulder before gingerly opening his shirt collar.

The bandage Bridgette had wrapped so carefully a couple of hours before was soaked in blood, the pain more intense than ever before, throbbing with his heartbeat. Nathan stared, a sweat breaking out on his forehead, as the park seemed to grow silent around him. Nervously, he struggled to his feet holding his shoulder in an attempt to stop the blood, which oozed from under the bandage. He took a step back towards the gate, and tripped in a ragged looking crater. He clambered to his knees, hissing in pain from the jolt the fall had given his shoulder, staring at the crater. "Bloody hell; what's a bomb doing going off in a park here? Belfast surely, but--" Nathan stopped suddenly, swaying, and feeling intensely dizzy as his head began to pound in time with the pulsing pain in his shoulder. With a groan, he fell to one side of the grassy crater and was still.

* * * * * * * *

Bridgette set her phone down, her brow creased with worry, her dark eyes nearly black in concern. Though her hair was thickly silvered, her face was unlined other than the permanent worry line between the graceful brows, only the dark eyes showing any sign of the age her hair claimed. Malcolm frowned from across the candlelit table at her, setting down his napkin and getting up, going over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Is something wrong, Bri'?" he asked.

She shook her head wonderingly. "I don't rightly know, Mal'," she murmured. "Nathan--sounded odd. He's been having troubles with dreams; like you and Zoë have."

Malcolm frowned. "Like ours? The same--"

"He never says for certain. Just mutters about faces and different places; apparently it's pretty awful." Bridgette bit her lip, then stood, dropping her napkin on the table. "I'm going to go out looking for him; to see if he's all right. Will you stay here in case he--"

Malcolm sighed. "Yes." Bridgette smiled gratefully, brushing his cheek with her lips, then grabbed a heavy wool cloak from a hook by the door and trotted out into the chilly night air. He watched her vanish into the night's shadows and sighed, closing the door behind her. Sighing again, he tugged his silver hair into a tail and began cleaning up the dinner mess from the table, blowing out the candles.

If Nathan's dreams were anything like his, he wouldn't blame Nathan for sounding worried. Malcolm's were full of images and other faces and places. He could understand such things appearing in dreams, but not so real; never so complete. It was as if a movie of some other person's life was playing itself in his head every night. A person Malcolm desperately didn't want to know. Zoë claimed much the same thing, and she had been increasingly jumpy when she was alone with him lately. Since about three or four weeks before. When she claimed her dreams had started. Malcolm's had started only a week or two ago--right after he had gotten sick.

He set the stack of dishes down and sat back down at the table, staring into the hearth-fire moodily. **Come to think of it, Zoë dreams started after she was sick, too. And Nathan was sick a while ago; when he started not sleeping that much...**

Grimacing, he stood quickly, snatching up the dishes and stalking down the hall to the kitchen with them.

But what did the dreams mean?

* * * * * * * *

"Hey, Serena?"

"Yeah, Molly?" asked Serena distractedly, her mind still mulling over their encounter with Nathan Malley at the cafe.

"Do you--I--" Molly broke off, looking around the cool night a moment. "I think I am going to go for a walk. I--I'll be back later."

"But, Molly--" Serena started, then stopped with a sigh as Molly moved off quickly, her arms wrapped around herself in her coat, pushing past the other girls and vanishing into the night. "I'll tell Mom, I guess."

Ami watched Molly go. "I wonder if one of us should go with her; it is getting late."

"Luna did," Artemis said from a perch on Mina's shoulder. "She'll call if there's any trouble." He turned to Ami. "What'd you find out about the guy?"

"I haven't had a chance to look at what data I gathered yet," Ami said. She sat on a bench and called up her computer, the visor appearing over her eyes. "Let me see; I'll check the Internet first to see if there's any information on him and the others; birth records, that sort of thing. And they're pretty popular, so they've probably got pictures and a web site and things." She typed in silence for a moment, then frowned. "That's odd; there seems not to be many pictures of them actually. Wait--here he is. Nathan Malley--hmmm, fairly normal records; doctors, grades, pass ports. I'll try the others." Each of the four younger members of the group checked out as normal with all the records. Malcolm Barnes had a certificate of guardianship transferred to one, "Bridgette Corwyn." Ami shrugged. "As far as the earth records are concerned, the four of them have all had normal--or as close as they can get--lives for however long they've been alive; Nathan's story seems to check out. Let me try the woman who's in charge, though--" Ami typed in a few more things, and frowned. "That's funny. There's only property records in her name--no birth records, doctors, nothing. Let me--" Ami blinked. "The name comes up again a few hundred years ago, too, but this time in America, on a ship's roster that's now in a museum in Boston."

Rei frowned. "Hmm. Sounds like she may be trouble."

"Is there ANY picture of her available?" asked Artemis.

"Just a moment." Ami punched a few more keys. "Here we go; it's pretty recent...some sort of publicity shoot or an album cover or something." A picture appeared in the center of Ami's screen. All the members of the band were perched on rocks around a waterfall, tall evergreens behind them on rolling hills. They all wore medieval European-looking clothes. Bridgette was in the foreground, her hair done up into an elaborate braid that coiled around her head like some sort of crown. Artemis squinted at the picture, then frowned. Ami shrugged. "She looks a little like Queen Beryl, but..."

The white cat pushed closer. "That locket around her neck; can you enhance that part of the picture?"

"Sure." Ami punched a few keys and the area around the locket came forward, then cleared. "Is that good enough?" She asked, turning the computer to where the white cat could see better.

Artemis stared carved silver locket for several minutes without twitching a whisker. Abruptly, he sat heavily, shaking his head. "Impossible."

"What's impossible?" asked Serena, staring uncomprehendingly at the design. A simple circle, quartered with a cross, the hoop twined with ivy and held up by the coils of a long, serpentine, dragon.

* * * * * * * *

Molly walked through the park in silence, her thoughts turned inwards. What was going on?? First the dreams about Nephlite's death had been coming more and more frequently, and then they had grown worse. Not only that, she was increasingly uncomfortable with Melvin, once again beginning to cringe at the very sound of his voice. She sighed, reaching into a pocket sewn into the inside of her coat, and pulled out an origami flower she had folded in school a couple of days before. With a sigh, she stepped off the path and entered the glade of trees where Nephlite had died.

She stopped dead in her tracks, hiding behind a tree. Someone was already there, lying on the grass. She watched a moment, waiting for the person to make a move, but the body remained still. Hesitantly, she moved forward to crouch at the still figure's side. She reached out a hand, laying it tentatively on the unmoving man's shoulder, eyes warm in concern, though they darted about nervously. Gingerly, she rolled him over.

Nathan Malley lay there slackly unconscious, and Molly's hand came away wet with blood.

* * * * * * * *

Bridgette walked quickly through the night, not looking one way or the other, intent on her goal. Her feet made little sound as she went, but the birds stirred themselves in the trees above her as she went by anyway. She paid their sleepy chirpings no mind, just kept on her way, a single tear etching down her rigid face. "Not again; it's too soon," she murmured once, her voice breaking.

* * * * * * * *

"Oh my--" Molly shook Nathan. "Ne--I mean--Mr. ah--Mr. Malley? Are you--what happened? Please wake up!" She gingerly picked his head up off the ground to let it rest in her lap.

Nathan groaned after a moment, then his eyes opened, staring about himself without seeming to see anything. He moved, and murmured in pain, closing his eyes again, his breathing ragged. Molly sat back, uncertain what to do, other than stroke his hair back from his face. She jumped suddenly, when a lilting female voice called out. "Nathan? Nathan!"

Nathan stirred on the ground again, and his eyes flickered open, moving at once to the direction the voice had come from. "Bri'--" he whispered, his face taught in pain.

There was barely a rustle of leaves, but suddenly a cloaked figure moved through the brush into the clearing, stopping to peer at Molly and the wounded man. Molly could have sworn a faint glow surrounded the figure's raised hand for a moment, but the glow, imagined or no, faded as the hand moved to push off the hood. "How long has he been here like this?" asked Bridgette Corwyn urgently, moving into the light.

"I--I don't know. I--just came here--and--I found--" Molly stammered.

Bridgette shook her head, crouching beside Molly, and carefully pulling the blood-soaked cloth away from the shoulder and peering at the ragged wound on the bruised skin beneath with a flinch. "It's all right, lassie."

"Bri'--th--this is--Miss Molly--from the--school we're at--this week," Nathan panted.

"Easy, Nate." Bri stayed him when he would have tried to get up. "Stay still." She glanced up as Molly pressed a clean handkerchief against another patch of blood to one side of his bad arm "I presume you got jumped?" Bridgette said wryly, her tense face easing some. "Never mind." She glanced at Molly. "Could I ask your help getting Nate back home where I can patch up his shoulder? It looks a bit messy."

Molly blinked uncertainly, but took one look at the so-familiar face and nodded firmly. "What can I do?"

* * * * * * * *

Serena paced in her room, muttering to herself. "I tell my mom that Molly wanted to go for a walk, and she yells at me for letting her go alone, not that I had much choice. Great. So not only do I have to save the universe, but I have to tell my friends what they can and can't--" The phone rang and Serena quickly ran to her door and opened it in time to hear her mom pick it up.

"Hello? Molly? Oh thank goodness! Where are you? Where? How did you get--yes, I would like to speak to Miss Corwyn, thank you. Hello? Miss Corwyn, what is--she--oh. Oh. I see. Yes, that's all right. I--yes, thank you. I--oh no, we can come get her. I--oh. All right. Thank you, Miss Corwyn."

Serena poked her head down the stairs. "What's going on?"

Serena's mother glanced up. "Oh. Molly's on her way home. She--found someone hurt in the park, and helped his friend get him home; he was one of those musicians that have been on the news."

Serena paled. "Er--okay." Quickly, she darted into her room and pulled out the Sailor communicator. "Ami! Molly went to the place where those musicians live. One of them got hurt, and stuff; and Molly found him in the park. My mother was just talking with Bridgette Corwyn on the phone!"

Ami blinked. "I see. I'll tell the others. Have you heard from Luna?"

"Uh--no."

Ami frowned, looking worried, "I hope she is all right." She sighed, eyes darting to one side on the tiny screen. "When she gets in, show her the copy of the picture of that locket. Artemis says it's important. He says he's not sure about it and he wants her opinion."

"What's the big deal about it anyway?"

"I don't know, Serena."

* * * * * * * *

The Scouts all sat around on Serena's house's roof, Serena, at least, wearing a blanket wrapped around her over her fuku. They all stared at the two agitated cats, who had been talking in low tense voices, since Luna had returned with Molly a couple hours earlier. "So--what's the big deal about the locket?" asked Rei, irritably.

"Well," said Luna, "there's a bit of a story behind that, you see."

"Tell us, before Molly wakes up and realizes I'm gone," Serena whined, shivering in the cold air.

Luna sighed. "We may want to tell Molly what is going on if what we think is true IS. And who you all are; she was, after all, targeted a great deal, and may be again."

"What? What's going on?" Lita asked.

Luna sighed. "You know, Lita, you're getting as impatient as Serena." The tall girl stuck her tongue out at the cat, and Luna just sighed, exchanging glances with Artemis. "Listen...Long ago, when the Moon Kingdom was at it's height, this universe was filled with joy."

"We know that part," said Rei impatiently.

Luna glared, then sighed and continued. "There was one person at the Moon Court and the court of Earth that was not happy though." Luna cleared her throat, glancing at Artemis before she continued. "No one was quite sure where she had come from, but it seemed as though she had always been there. It was a woman, with a young face, but hair and eyes that could have been mistaken for belonging to someone who had seen much; too much, perhaps. She was accepted, though, because she was a wonderful singer and a wonderful storyteller. When she spoke, the tales came alive for you, the music filled your soul and made you see what the songs were about. She could speak with every creature there was, and understand their replies--and creatures right out of myths followed her. She was well loved and she seemed to care for the people of both kingdoms, but she was known only as Kaela to them all--or the Singer. Strangely, though, all people could remember of her appearance--when she was not in the same room with them--was the locket she wore at all times; a locket with the symbol from the picture."

Rei shrugged. "So another member of the Court lived. What's the big deal?"

Luna sighed. "I was getting to that. She seemed to finally find some happiness when she met four young men from Prince Darien's court; the four who would become Beryl's generals."

"Wait--four men?" asked Lita.

"I cannot explain Zoisite's--er--condition," Luna sighed. "If you will let me finish what I can explain?" Glaring at them all, her tail switching, she went on. "They took up positions like brothers or sons to her, and all seemed well. Then, one night, she requested a joint audience with your mother, Serena, and Darien's father. She warned of an impending attack and pleaded for them to prepare. They listened, but did not pay much attention to her words. About a week later, the four men vanished, crossing to the side of an evil force which then began an invasion of Earth, and Kaela vanished. We presumed she was a fore runner of the Negaverse."

"If she was," said Ami, "then why did she try to warn you? And where did she come from? How did she know?"

Artemis shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."