Chapter 1

Nightmares

By Analla (also known as Kayla, Rhiannon, and by a slew of other names that everyone else seems to want to lay claim too)

Hello everyone and welcome to the revised version of my first published fanfic. I was about to post a new story when I realized that I had never posted the final chapter of this at ff.net. (I did post it everywhere else though, so I can see why I might have overlooked it.) So I've revised everything, kept most of my original author's notes, but hopefully everything is a bit spiffier then it was before. I know that there are more words. Hopefully they are an improvement, not a detraction.

This is supposed to be a first season, humorous (I hope) romance. I'm using the Japanese names for all the SM purists out there. For the purpose of this story: Rei and Mamoru are still dating, Mamoru is secretly attracted to Usagi, Usagi thinks Mamoru is hot but doesn't want to take Rei's boyfriend, Minako has joined the group, the senshi don't know who Tuxedo Kamen is and vice versa, and they are still looking for the princess.

That was a mouthful.

Today Setsuana will be reading the Standard Disclaimer:

Sailor Pluto sets down her time staff and looks at the piece of paper confused. "The Lady Analla has asked me to confirm that she has not at any time in the past, nor at any time in the present, nor will she at any time in the future lay claim to Sailor Moon."

There I hope everyone's satisfied. Sailor Pluto was especially mad because she had to abandon the Time Gates. If anything interrupts the time stream then I'm blaming it on the lawyers.

Enjoy minna

~*~*~*~*~

Usagi tossed uncomfortably beneath the covers. She couldn't seem to find a comfortable position and her dreams weren't helping. DEATH!!! That was all her dreams had been about lately. She dreamt of her family being caught in a fiery inferno. The Senshi being torn apart by youma. And worst of all, Tuxedo Kamen and herself.

"No." She moaned quietly as another nightmare sequence began.

"They're all gone you realize." A voice echoed from the blackness. "Sailor Moon, the champion of love and justice. You didn't save them." The voice mocked at her. It rebounded against unseen walls and other voices came to join it. They were the voices of Usagi's friends and family suffering through their death throes. "Your friends. Your family. You caused their deaths."

"NO!" Sailor Moon denied the apparition. She pulled her hands up to her ears and tried to block out the sounds. Pain lanced through her heart and she fell to the ground in agony, tears welling up in her eyes. She turned her head away and shook it fiercely. "No, no, no."

"Come, look at your friends." Death chided. "Don't they deserve your pity? Perhaps you could help to alleviate their suffering." Death walked right next to where Usagi lay. "If you were willing to take their place, perhaps I might let them live."

Usagi looked up at the specter in disbelief. He'd never offered her that choice before.

"Would you?"

Death smiled. "Perhaps. Shall we see?" With that the specter pulled back his cape to reveal the last moments of everyone Tsukino Usagi had ever loved.

Luna glanced up from her spot on the windowsill. "I wish I knew what to do." She could choose to wake Usagi up or allow Usagi to continue writhing in her bed. Both choices were not good ones and there didn't seem to be any alternative. Usagi needed as much rest as possible. Would she get more rest by being awake and free of the nightmares or by sleeping and having the nightmares continue?

The nightmares had begun nearly a week ago. At the time Luna thought that Usagi's restlessness was due to fighting five youma in three days. Usagi kicked Luna out of the bed once. Luna waited several moments until Usagi calmed down and then jumped up and curled back up in her warm spot. When Usagi kicked Luna out of the bed the second night. Luna decided to sleep under the bed.

Luna shuddered at the thought. She'd been squashed three times by Usagi. When Luna managed to wake her up the girl opened her eyes briefly and murmured. "You're not my slippers." And then went back to bed. The next day Usagi couldn't even explain to Luna why she was looking for her slippers that late at night or why she thought that they would be under the bed. On the third night Luna decided to sleep on Usagi's dresser. That plan was shortlived when Usagi mistook Luna for an alarm clock and almost knocked her senseless.

The windowsill was the only safe place left. Luna could watch over her charge, but she could also manage to escape a senseless braining if a certain "odango atama" decided she wanted some fresh air at two in the morning.

Under normal circumstances, Luna might find herself at Mina's or with one of the other Senshi. But as the week passed by, Luna's worry grew. With fighting five youma, Sailor Moon would be the most depleted energywise.

Luna nodded her head. It was decided then. She wouldn't wake Usagi up, because, even with the nightmares Usagi's body needed the rest.

Usagi watched horrified, unable to look away. "Please stop. I don't want to see it again."

Death stared at her, his visage unmarked by emotion. "You can't stop me, I come to all people eventually."

Usagi hid her face again, refusing to watch the massacre before her. She reached deep within herself and pulled out a long neglected power. "Leave them alone." Usagi yelled. "I command you to let them be." A silvery-pink glow suffused the room, the color of a moonbeam.

The light coalesced and the outline of a man's body began to form.

Death screamed in pain when a steel-tipped rose hit his chest. The apparition burst into blood red rose petals.

Sailor Moon looked at her champion and smiled. "Tuxedo Kamen?"

The figure in black merely nodded and then gestured for her to come forward. Usagi eagerly rushed towards her hero.

"You think he can save you?" The voice boomed from nothingness. "I already told you I can defeat any enemy. They all come to me in the end."

The rose petals rose up and swirled around Tuxedo Kamen turning into sharply honed razors. The razors prevented Usagi from stepping any closer to Tuxedo Kamen. The razors shredded his cape and dug into his clothing. Blood streamed from infinitesimal cuts crisscrossing his skin. The valiant figure clutched at his heart and fell to the ground.

Stunned, Usagi fell to the ground besides her beloved. Whenever a razor hit her, it disappeared in a flash of light. Usagi felt for Tuxedo Kamen's pulse.

Nothing.

An unhuman keening filled the air as she mourned all that she'd lost.

Luna stood up at Usagi's moans. "That's it. I'm waking her up." Leaving Usagi asleep was not worth it if the girl cried. She never cried in her sleep, ever. Luna jumped onto the bed. Usagi sat up and looked at Luna through zombie-dazed eyes. The tears rolled down Usagi's face. She reached up and brushed them away. Usagi reached her hand out blindly. Moments later she snuggled her bunny to her chest and shut her eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

Luna watched Usagi's serene face. "What happened?" What could cause Usagi to get calm so suddenly? She watched Usagi for another half-hour, but Usagi didn't stir again.

"I guess her nightmares are gone." Luna yawned. She kneaded the blanket and then fell into a deep slumber herself.

A gloved finger came up and wiped away the tears from Usagi's eyes. Usagi looked at Tuxedo Kamen. He was unscathed. All of the rose petals gone. No cuts, no blood, nothing.

"Is...is this real?" She asked the question quietly, not wanting to hear the answer. If this was another of death's tricks... Usagi didn't think she could take it, if it turned out to be fake.

"No, not a trick." Tuxedo Kamen answered her. He stood and then pulled her up besides him. "You must remember that your love is one of the strongest powers in the Universe. We have defeated death once and we will do so again. Believe me Serenity."

Serenity nodded her belief. The silvery pink light returned and enveloped the couple. It exploded into a million points of light. The princess and her prince began dancing among the twinkling lights dressed in silk spun by a fairy's hand. Trills of music filled the air and for the moment the princess was content.

Endymion whirled his partner and then brought her back. Serenity rested her head on Endymion's chest and they swayed slowly to the music. "Why can't we stay here forever? I miss you Endymion."

Endymion did not answer.

Serenity sighed. Her love chose not to speak when he could not change something. Perhaps she should enjoy what she had. That thought did not prevent her from voicing her wish. "I wish I could be in your arms for real and not just in this dream world."

Usagi's transformation brooch lifted off of her dresser and danced slowly through the air accompanied by a thousand year old song. It came to rest on her chest and pulsed a silvery pink. A light crackled through the room separating into a hundred different bands of energy. The impromptu lightning storm halted just as suddenly as it begun.

Luna's eyes snapped open her pupils slitting automatically. The afterglow of the light made it difficult to see. Luna looked towards Usagi's bed. It contained rumpled bed sheets and a rather suspicious looking lump.

"Why am I not surprised?" Luna sat up and stretched. She blinked her eyes and realized that she couldn't see at all now.

"Usagi, are you all right?" The cat jumped to the dresser and made her way towards the bed by feel and the keen sense of her whiskers. Once on the bed, Luna pawed around, trying to feel where Usagi was. Panic entered her system. The bed was empty.

Luna called Usagi's name several times. She shook her head trying to get rid of the blindness. Very slowly features began to take shape from the dark mass. When the guardian cat could once again see, she flicked the lightswitch on by using her powers. Light flooded the room and revealed that a certain blond-headed girl was most definitely not there.

Luna had the present of mind to check the rest of the house. She even did a quick circuit of the outside and tried smelling for races of her charge. In desperation Luna returned to the bedroom and found Usagi's communicator hidden beneath a pile of dirty clothes. She pressed the all call button.

"What is it now?" Rei's face appeared and then disappeared as she stuffed a pillow over her head. "Can't the youmas wait until tomorrow?"

Luna waited until all the other senshi were on before she answered Rei's question.

"Usagi's missing. There was an odd display of light and when it disappeared Usagi was gone."

"What?" The senshi echoed each other.

"We need to treat this as a possible kidnapping, perhaps by the Dark Kingdom. I need all of you here immediately so we can start searching for her."

"We'll be there in a few minutes." Ami spoke for the whole group.

The communicator went dark. Luna stepped to the window and looked out into the night. There was nothing to do now, but wait.

~*~*~*~*~

Usagi felt herself being released from the tendrils of her dream. "I wanna go back to sleep." She kept her eyes shut and tried to smooth away her grumpiness. For once Luna wasn't yelling in her ear to wake up, that meant that she probably had a few more precious moments to sleep in. Shivering, she moved her hand out, patting around herself in a half circular pattern, trying to find her covers.

She pulled her hand back suddenly. THAT was most definitely NOT her covers. A pair of arms enfolded Usagi and pulled her towards a muscular chest.

Usagi squirmed, but found it impossible to break the hold upon her. "This is not happening. . . I'm still dreaming. . . Oh please wake up...oh please wake up."

She didn't mind dreaming about tall, dark, and handsome strangers. Especially if they were her knight in shining armour. And she didn't even mind if they took her dancing or even to a movie. But imagining herself in bed with one. It was...well, it was just too weird.

Unfortunately this dreamed seemed too real. Usagi could smell a faint tint of roses and she opened her eyes briefly and could even make out indistinct lumps in the darkness. She felt the rythmic breathing of her white knight's chest and could even hear his heartbeat. The dream was too detailed. Too perfect. Too much like something she would never want to wake up from.

Usagi shut her eyes quickly and then she managed to pull an arm free. Somewhere she'd heard that if you pinched yourself then you would wake up. She grabbed a huge chunk of her upper forearm and squeezed for all she was worth. Pain radiated from her arm and she let go.

That had HUUURRRTTT!!! Which meant that this wasn't a dream. Breathing very slowly and trying very hard not to hyperventilate. Usagi turned in her captor's arms. She needed to see who it was, but her eyes were still shut. She finished turing and then opened her eyes up very slowly.

"Please let it be Daddy. I know he doesn't normally sleep without a shirt. But please let this be the one night he has and please...OH PLEASE...let me have gone into my parents room."

Usagi looked into her captor's face.

"NOOOOOO!!!!!!!" She screamed loudly falling out of the bed.

It was Chiba Mamoru.

~*~*~*~*~

Well let me know what you think

Ja ne

Analla

(analla_r@hotmail.com)