Cast in Darkness
Author: Princess Nat
Notes: This takes place during Sailor Moon R, during the break up.

Acknowledgments: Thanks to my wonderful beta, Moonbeam, and to my demented husband, Fogmaster.

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi

Usagi was not having a good day. She hadn't been able to sleep very well, as Chibi-Usa had climbed into bed with her and had twitched and kicked throughout the night. Arriving late, and without her lunch, she had already received detention for the day and things didn't look like they would be improving anytime soon. Usagi looked up apprehensively as Haruna-sensei started writing on the board. 'No, please tell me that doesn't say what I think it does,' she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and made a little wish before looking again, but those awful words--Pop Quiz--were still there. 'I knew I should have stayed in bed.'

Trudging home after detention, Usagi noticed Mamoru and Chibi-Usa sitting on a bench in the park. Perking up a bit, she called out a greeting as she walked up to them. "Mamo-chan, Chibi-Usa!" she exclaimed happily, her heart beating a little faster as she came closer. However, when they turned to look at her, Usagi was met with two pairs of glaring eyes and her steps faltered. The small smile that had started to creep up her face fell away at the ice in his gaze. The stormy blue eyes that had once looked upon her lovingly (at least, she thought they had), now only held irritation and annoyance.

"Usagi, don't call me that. I told you, it's over. Stay away from me," he told her coldly and then got up and started walking away. Usagi blanched, her already pale face draining of all color.

"I, I'm sorry..." she whispered to his retreating back, wondering once again what it was she had done to bring such scorn upon herself. Tears were gathering behind her eyes and she could feel the familiar burn of sobs beginning in the back of her throat. Before she could even whimper, however, Chibi-Usa stood on the bench in front of her and started screaming.

"You drove him away! He's leaving because of you, baka! He hates you and so do I!" Chibi-Usa yelled. She leaped from the bench and ran after Mamoru.

'He...they...hate me?' Usagi thought to herself. Staring after them in shock, she just stood there as she felt something inside her start to wither and die. 'Am I really so bad?' She could hear Chibi-Usa's voice again in her mind, over and over again--"He hates you and so do I!" There was a slight buzzing in her ears and blackness was starting to edge out her vision. She was making her way unsteadily to the bench when her communicator went off. Usagi waited until she had sat down before activating the communicator with shaking hands.

"Usagi, you baka! What took you so long to answer? We need you at the ice rink right away. There's a droid attack." Rei yelled angrily.

"I...I.." Usagi started to respond, but Rei cut her off.

"Just get over here, Odango Amata!" she demanded before cutting the connection.

Usagi stared at the communicator blankly for a minute before finally coming back to herself. She stood up shakily and transformed. Feeling a bit better with the transformation into Sailor Moon, she took off running for the ice rink which was, of course, on the far side of town.

She'd almost reached the edge of the park when she heard a shrill scream coming from somewhere to her right. Veering in that direction, she picked up her speed until she came to a small clearing where a droid was draining the energy from a woman while her children cowered in horror. "Hey, ugly, why don't you pick on someone your own size," she called out. "I am Sailor Moon and in the name of the Moon, I will punish you." The droid had dropped the woman as Sailor Moon started her speech and was looking her way. "Moon Tiara Action!" Sailor Moon yelled, as she released the spinning gold disc.

Unfortunately, the droid teleported before the tiara could reach it. 'Uh oh,' she thought, 'Where did it go?' She scanned the area frantically and was just turning around when she felt the claws dig into her back. She cried out in agony at the burning sensation and threw herself away from the droid. As she lay gasping on the ground with the droid advancing toward her, she saw her tiara coming back to her and, with a desperate motion, directed it toward the droid. As the claws were about to rake her chest, the lethal flash pierced the droid, reducing it to metal shavings. Sailor Moon briefly pressed her eyes closed, taking in deep shuddering breaths, then climbed painfully to her feet. With no more creatures lurking within sight, she continued her dash toward the ice rink.

By the time she reached the battle, she was seeing spots before her eyes and her back felt numb. She stumbled a bit as she entered the fray, but caught herself before she went down. Her eyes widened as she took in the condition of the Senshi. Mercury was crumpled in a heap by a tree, Venus was painfully struggling to her feet after taking a droid blast, Jupiter was clutching her right arm against her chest, and Mars was loosing an attack, though it looked as though she had suffered a blast or two, herself. The droid deftly side-stepped Rei's flames and was about to launch a counter attack when Sailor Moon shouted her attack, "Moon Sceptre Elimination!" The droid froze motionless for a moment, then burst into a cloud of glittery dust. Sailor Moon breathed a sigh of relief, but Mars whirled around and glared at her.

"Where have you been?!" she exclaimed. "We could have used your help here. What kind of leader are you, to leave us to battle this droid by ourselves. We could have been killed!"

"And when you do show up, you have a klutz attack that almost prevents you from destroying the monster before it gets Mars!" Jupiter added, throwing her own glare towards Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon just stood in disbelief. She started to open her mouth to speak, but Venus didn't give her a chance.

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses. I agree with them. You could have gotten us all killed," she spat angrily.

Sailor Moon turned to Mercury in mute appeal, but Mercury just turned away and refused to look at her. Tears threatened again as her eyes flitted from one angry scout to the next. 'They hate me. They really hate me. And they're right. I'm not a leader, or a warrior, or a princess. They would be better off without me.' Without a word, Usagi released her transformation, ripped the brooch off her blouse and let it fall to the ground. She quickly dropped her communicator and the star locket next to it and then turned and fled.

The Senshi stared after her in shock. They certainly hadn't expected that. Mars was walking over to the abandoned pile of artifacts when Tuxedo Kamen arrived, looking winded.

"And where have you been?" Jupiter asked him angrily.

"I had to take Chibi-Usa home, then I got to the park just in time to see Sailor Moon kill the droid there, and then I had to run clear across town to get here," he managed, still gasping a bit for breath. He looked around and frowned, "Where is she, anyway?"

The Senshi all stared at him. "Droid in the park?" Venus whispered.

Mars had finally reached the dropped articles and bent down to pick them up. When she saw the blood on the grass next to them, she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Oh no," she breathed.

"What is it?" Mercury asked, as she limped up beside her. When she saw the blood she gasped. She immediately activated her visor and studied the direction in which Usagi had ran. The trail of blood was unmistakable. "Oh my god, what have we done?" she said.

Tuxedo Kamen was growing irritated, as none of the Senshi had answered his question. He stalked over and grabbed Mars' arm. "What? What is the matter with all of you? Where is Usagi?" He looked down at the items she was holding. "Why do you have her things?" he demanded.

The Senshi just stared at him quietly, tears streaming from their eyes. Finally, Venus spoke, "We, we had a fight. We were upset because she took so long in getting here and we were getting our butts kicked by that droid..." she trailed off.

"We didn't even give her a chance to explain," Mercury added, choking back a sob.

Usagi ran until she reached a hidden place in the park, sheltered from view by thick rosebushes. There, her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground sobbing. Her back oozed blood, an intense burning sensation emanating from the gaps torn into her flesh by the droid. But, compared to the pain in her heart, these wounds were mere annoyances. "Oh Mother, why did you send me here? It would have been better if you had let me stay dead in the past," she cried.

"Actually, it would have been better if you had never been born," a cold voice came from above her.

Startled, Usagi looked up. Floating above her was a man she did not recognize, somewhat tall with short blond hair. He wore a uniform of some kind, all gold. His eyes, though, are what froze her in place. They were black and implacable and gazed at her with pure hatred. The malice that she read there stole away her breath.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"What? You don't recognize me? I'm hurt," he said mockingly. "Don't worry, Princess, you'll remember soon enough." From his raised palm, a radiant beam of light formed and then shot at her forehead. When the light struck her, Usagi screamed as the crescent moon blazed to life and she was forcibly transformed into Princess Serenity. "Time to go home, Princess," he said as a gold bubble of energy formed around them both.

In an instant, they were gone.

The Senshi came racing after Tuxedo Kamen into the park when he suddenly doubled over, grabbing his head. They heard Usagi's scream seconds later. Mercury tried to help him, while the rest sprinted toward the scream. A sudden flash of gold came from behind the rosebushes, but when the Senshi arrived, there was no one there.

"Where is she?" Mars demanded, of no one in particular. She looked around on the ground, but the only sign of Usagi was some blood on the grass.

"She's gone." Tuxedo Kamen said flatly, as he walked up. His eyes were grim and his face was pale.

"What do you mean 'gone?' Gone where?" Jupiter asked, confusion evident in her green eyes.

"I mean gone. I can't feel her anymore. She's not dead, I know that, but I can't tell where or how she is." He looked around helplessly at the spot that he was sure she had been just moments before.

"He's right, guys." Mercury spoke up while still working on her computer. "I can't find any trace of her."

"She couldn't have just disappeared. Do you think one of the droids got her? She wasn't in very good shape and she couldn't even transform into Sailor Moon..." Venus burst into tears as she finished.

"I'm not getting any Black Moon energy readings, so I don't think it was a droid. However, there are some extremely high readings of some other kind of energy that I don't recognize mixed with Dark Kingdom energies." Mercury responded.

"Dark Kingdom energies!?" the other Senshi exclaimed in disbelief.

"That's impossible, we defeated the Dark Kingdom," Jupiter stated.

"There are definite traces of Dark Kingdom energies, but they are not as strong as the other, unknown energies. I'm afraid we might have a new enemy and, from the readings I'm getting, a more powerful enemy than we've had before." Mercury said.

"And now this new, more powerful enemy has Sailor Moon," Venus whispered.

Serenity whimpered softly as she felt someone nudge her side. She opened her eyes reluctantly, fervently praying that it had all been a nightmare, but the pain in her back and the burning on her forehead told her otherwise. She reached up hesitantly to touch the crescent moon that was still blazing and winced. It had never hurt before, but she had never been transformed by something other than the Ginzuishou before, either.

"Ah, I see the sleeping princess has awakened. Welcome to your new home, Princess of the Moon," the man in gold bowed mockingly as he spoke.

"Where...?" Serenity began to ask.

"Why the Moon, of course. I told you it was time to go home. Though, you've probably never been to this part of the Moon. We're in a nice deep cave on the dark side of the Moon. You, child of light that you are, always remained on the side facing Earth. Now, however, it is time for you to pay for your crimes against your mother and her kingdom." His expression darkened as he spoke and his tone slid from mocking to menacing.

"Crimes? What crimes?" Serenity asked, confusion and fear warring in her crystal blue eyes.

"The murder of Queen Serenity and the destruction of the Moon Kingdom!" he shouted. "You were the cause of her death! You were the cause of the fall of the Silver Millennium! If not for you, she would still be alive!" Golden light began to glow ominously from his hands.

"But, I didn't kill my mother! The Dark Kingdom destroyed the Moon Kingdom. They were responsible for her death!" Serenity pleaded desperately.

"Lies! All lies! If not for you, the Moon Kingdom and Queen Serenity would still be here. It was your fault! And now, little Moon Princess, you will pay. You will pay for taking my Serenity away from me!" he raged as the golden light around his hands increased in intensity. "So-called 'Child of Light,' you shall spend the remainder of your short life in darkness and alone, a fitting punishment for your crimes."

With his final words, he released the energy that had been building in his hands and it engulfed Serenity. She screamed as the burning energy surrounded her. She shut her eyes, but could still see the blazing light through her eyelids. It felt like she was on fire. Her crescent moon blazed more fiercely, a lance of silver light briefly pierced through the ball of orange-red energy that was consuming her before she fell, gratefully, into the cool, dark embrace of oblivion.