Dear Diary (part 1?)

[Halbarad]

As my background piece for the first arc of the game, I decided to write up the events we went through from a rabbit's-eye view. I hope you enjoy getting to peek at Usagi's diary. ^_^

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Dear Diary,

   I don't think I can write much today. I found out that my wonderful Tuxedo Kamen was really Chiba Mamoru. Mamoru! Of all the possible people it could be, why him? He almost died trying to protect me! As if that wasn't enough, I found out that I'm the Moon princess that we've been spending all our time looking for. AND I've got to take care of the ginzuishou. And Mamoru, my precious Tuxedo Kamen, got taken away right in front of me-and I couldn't do anything about it! I don't want any of this anymore! I just want to be a normal girl... why did this have to happen to me... I don't want to have to take care of all this!

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Dear Diary,

    Sorry I haven't written much for a while; I've been too down to do much of anything except listen to Mamoru's locket. Mom's decided to take me to the hot springs tomorrow to try to cheer me up. I don't know what to do anymore...

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Dear Diary,

    Why?! God, why did he have to do that? And I couldn't even... my own mother, and I couldn't do a THING to help her! I'm Sailor Moon, damn it, and I can't even save the people I care about more than anything else!

Rei took care of the spirit, as usual. Maybe she's right; she should be the leader, not me. Any of them would do a better job than I can. I'm a failure as a student, as a senshi, and even as a daughter...

I hate Sailor Moon, and the Moon Princess, and Endymion, and the Dark Kingdom... I JUST WANT TO BE A REGULAR TEENAGER! IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?

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Dear Diary,

    Ami-chan arrived today. She says she's going to stay up here with me until Mom gets better. To be honest, I don't really care-I just don't want Mom getting hurt ever again, no matter what.

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Dear Diary,

   The girls got Mamoru back! I don't know how and I don't really care-I just want to see him again, I don't know if I can believe it until I can touch him to make sure he's real! And the doctors say that Mom will be ready to go home tomorrow! I can't wait!

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Dear Diary,

  Sorry I forgot to write yesterday-I was too excited about getting to see Mamoru again! Today, though... it's been a really, really long day.

Mamoru woke up today! I went over after school to see him, and he woke up while I was talking with Minako and Rei! He remembered that I was the Moon Princess, but not much else besides that. He didn't remember anything about being captured by the Dark Kingdom at all. Rei and Minako seemed really disappointed; I think they wanted to ask him about the Dark Kingdom more. I feel so out of things-I've been gone for too long.

Luna and Artemis are in BIG trouble. They've been holding out on us ever since the Starlight Tower! Turns out they got almost all their memories back when I turned into the princess (I STILL can't believe that's me sometimes) and they haven't told us ANY of the stuff they remembered since then. According to what we squeezed out of them today, it looks like everyone else (except Herb-he's the new senshi) was a princess too, of their own planets. Mamoru is the reincarnation of the Prince of Earth, Endymion; that's why he appeared in that form while he was with the Dark Kingdom. I may have to come refer back to this stuff, Diary; things are getting too darn complicated! I need to take notes just to remember who's who and where they're from!

Minako said that Artemis called me fat (and Luna agreed! I was ready to kill that kitty traitor!) and stalked out with him after we talked for a while; I don't know what they were talking about, but she was REALLY mad when she came back-but I'm getting ahead of myself. Mamoru... Mamoru thanked me for rescuing him. I wasn't even HERE, Diary! I was so busy moping over how I'd failed Mom that I wasn't here to help him when he really needed me, and he thanked me anyway! I couldn't take it. I ran out of the temple, and Makoto came to talk to me. She managed to get me to calm down (although I still feel really bad about it) and we went back inside, and that's when I saw how mad Minako and Rei were. Minako was saying something about "acceptable losses" and wanting to attack the Dark Kingdom directly. I don't know; I can see what Minako's saying, but Artemis has a point too. We can't just sit around and do nothing, but we can't just barge in without some kind of plan, either, or we WILL just be throwing our lives away. I've got this horrible sinking feeling that they're going to ask me to decide what to do at some point, and I don't know what to say.

Right after that, Yui-chan told us there was a monster attack in the subway. Herb, Minako, and Rei managed to take out a bunch of them right outside the temple, and then they went after the one that was in the subway, apparently. I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but it looks like the one that was there teleported here. It was just Makoto and me here to fight it at that point, but we managed to take it out without TOO much trouble. The temple looks like an absolute wreck though.

When Rei got back, she gave us the even WORSE news. Apparently Beryl knows who we are; she's been spying on the temple, that's how she knew the others were gone when she sent the other youma back here. Worse, she knew who Rei was-that Rei Hino was Sailor Mars, and I bet she knows who all the rest of us are too. It seems she found out Mamoru's identity even before the Starlight Tower, and she's been watching him ever since we got him back. Does this mean she knows about my family? God, I hope not...

Rei decided that she should at least ward the temple against intrusion, so the witch couldn't listen to us planning. We all helped her put up wards, then she asked if I could help reinforce them with the ginzuishou-I'm still not sure why, it's not like I knew what to do. Anyway, I did what Rei said, and I could see something-like a light in my mind. I'm still not really sure what happened next, but I pictured the light making a dome over Rei's temple, and next thing I know I'm waking up in the back room with the most MASSIVE headache.

That's when the fun started. I got up to go get some aspirin; I swear, my head hurt so bad I couldn't see straight, everything was all fuzzy. I had my eyes closed when I got to the bathroom, and I guess I didn't see Rei standing there talking to Minako. I ran into her and knocked all three of us down-hitting my head on the wall in the process, GOD that hurt. When I managed to focus though, it was absolutely hilarious-Rei was sprawled out over the top of Minako. I managed not to laugh right away, but I did get to tease Rei about it-you should have seen the look on her face! Minako looked kind of... happy though. I'm not sure I want to know any more about that though.

Anyway, I got my aspirin and went back to the front room, and I saw Minako and Rei leave together a few minutes later. This could be some prime teasing material later. I wonder where they were really going?

Oh, and I managed to find out why Minako is so ticked off with Artemis. I'll say this: She's definitely overreacting, but that furball definitely needs to learn how to phrase things better. I really hope no one else dies though. I don't know what I'd do if I found someone dead after a youma attack.

Don't tell anyone else about this, Diary, but I'm really freaked out about what happened with the crystal today. Everyone else seemed really impressed, but what if I'd goofed up like I usually do? I could have blown up half the city with that thing! I've really, REALLY got to be careful; this is a HUGE responsibility, and I really don't want to blow this one like I've messed up being Sailor Moon so much. There's a lot more on the line with the ginzuishou than just a few people's energy, and that really makes me nervous. I have to admit, though, it kind of feels good to use that much power, even if it does take a lot out of me. What could I really do if I knew how to use its full power? I want to find out... but no, I can't. It's too big a risk if I screw up, and it's not a matter of IF I mess things up, it's a matter of WHEN.

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Dear Diary,

   Not a whole lot to report today. Artemis made the rounds last night, I guess; Luna was really grumpy this morning and told me he'd been around to talk to her in the middle of the night. I found out later that he'd been to talk to Nian-that's Herb's cat-last night too, and really got chewed out from the sound of it, too. He told me he went to talk to Mako-chan this morning after she got up.

Why so much about Arty? Well, a certain white mooncat decided it was time to try apologizing to a certain golden-haired senshi! (and I don't mean me, of course.) He came over after he left Mako-chan's and collected me, Herb, Luna, and Nian, and we all went over to the shrine where Minako was helping Rei-chan with the repairs.

We all went inside to talk, and boy were Rei-chan and Minako ready to grill him! I can't blame them though; even after all the advice he got (from Nian, Luna, and Makoto) he STILL didn't manage to stutter out more than the most general apology he could. Mina-chan did manage to get information about a way we could teleport to the Moon though, for when we're ready to attack the Dark Kingdom.

With that in mind, we decided to try a little practice (a good thing too, I wouldn't want to teleport into the middle of deep space if we screwed up!) Herb, Mina-chan, Rei-chan and I all teleported to my school with Nian along for the ride. Note to self: If I ever take Luna along on a teleport, bring airsick bags. We got back to the shrine okay (Nian decided to walk though) even though we landed on top of Rei's kotatsu. Lucky me, I was the only one to land on my rear. I hate being such a klutz.

Rei-chan and Ami-chan both said the shield seems to be holding up so far; I hope it stays there until we can really get ready to attack. I don't know why, but the idea of going to the Moon really makes me nervous.

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Dear Diary,

   Wow. Poor Rei... I never seriously thought she and Minako... I mean... I guess I'd better start at the beginning, I'm not making any sense here.

Okay, you remember what I told you the other day about Rei and Minako. Apparently, Minako really DOES think about Rei like that. I was just getting out of school (yes, detention AGAIN...) when I ran into Rei wandering around outside. She was really out of it, so I took her to the arcade for some cocoa. It turns out one of the girls from her school AND Minako BOTH confessed to being in love with her! It looked like she was about as shocked as I was just hearing it. I'm kind of worried about her; she didn't look like she was taking it very well. I told her I'd be there for her no matter what she decided about it; I hope it helped her some. I'm not sure what I'm going to say to Minako the next time I see her; this is just too weird.

Oh, and if that wasn't bad enough, then Makoto and Ami showed up a little while later and tried to pump me for info. I felt bad for keeping a secret like that from them, but Rei would get really steamed at me if I just went around telling everyone about something that important! We all went over to Makoto's place for some cookies after that. I got to have some cookie dough ^_^ but Ami and Mako-chan were saying some REALLY weird things in the kitchen. I hope I just misunderstood what was happening though; it's weird enough hearing that sort of stuff happening to Rei.

Oh, and Herb-sama called me on my way home tonight. ^_^ He (except he was a she?) called in to "report" about having fun! I only meant that he shouldn't spend ALL his time studying; I didn't mean it like an order or anything! Anyway, I guess he went down to some martial arts place and got in a fight. He said he got stabbed (!) and saw some stuff when he blacked out, but he swore he was okay. He's a lot older than I am, so I guess I should trust him when he says stuff like that. I just hate it when I hear about any of my friends getting hurt, you know?

Anyway, I'd better wrap up for now. I actually got my homework done (for once!) and I reeeeally don't want to get detention tomorrow if I can help it, so I'd better get to bed.

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Dear Diary,

   I'm glad I keep my diary in my schoolbag (no WAY I'm letting Shingo-baka get his grubby little mitts on this thing!) because I'm in the HOSPITAL! This is not what I was imagining today would be like at all.

It started out like usual-out of bed late, running to class. Right when I got outside though, I saw this REALLY bright flash of light-I almost tripped, I was so surprised (but I managed not to!). Anyway, I got to school late AGAIN-although Miss H was nice, she just lectured me for a few minutes, no detention!-and then Rei-chan called. I had to run out of the classroom to get the call, and it turned out that flash I saw was that shield I made collapsing. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised though-but I'm not going to start doing that again! Anyway, when I got back into class Miss H sent me out into the hall with the buckets again for running out so fast (I hate having a secret identity sometimes), and then Ami-chan came out and dragged me off to the bathroom to say the same thing Rei did. Anyway, to make a long story short we ended up cutting class to meet everyone at the shrine (yes, Ami-chan really did cut class, I swear!) to figure out what to do.

Then we got the REALLY bad news. The Dark Kingdom opened a portal in the middle of downtown Tokyo after they got rid of the shield-I should have known the break was too good to last. I don't know exactly how to describe what it was like down there-I remember how upset Rei was when she told me about the youma killing someone at the waterpark, but I never thought... It was awful, there were bodies everywhere, and it was pretty obvious they were dead. I almost gave up right there, but I realized if I didn't keep going it would just mean MORE people would wind up dead, so I made myself go on. We dusted a few youma, then we saw IT. I don't know what the hell was coming out of that portal, but it made my skin crawl like you wouldn't believe. Rei... Rei apparently tried to close it by herself first, and got thrown away so hard... I was afraid she was dead too. I had to be strong though, so I used the crystal again-I think I could feel Herb and Minako helping too, but it's so hard to feel anything else when I'm using the crystal, it feels like it could swallow me alive, it's so powerful. I managed to force... whatever it was back inside, but when I tried to close the portal it hit me, hard.

The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital, with Mako-chan and Ami-chan and Mamoru-chan and my family all there. I must have fallen asleep again right after that, because the next time I opened my eyes it was all the girls and Mamoru-chan too, but my family had gone. It turns out Rei-chan checked out okay with the doctors, and I guess I managed to close the portal even though I got hit with that... whatever it was. I went to sleep again a little while after my family got back, then I woke up and everyone but Mamoru was gone. He's sitting here keeping an eye on me while I write.

I can't lie to you, Diary, I'm scared to death. Rei looks like she's been through a war, and I can tell there's something wrong with her. Are we really going to be strong enough to do this?

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Dear Diary,

   We did it. I can barely believe it, but we actually DID IT! I'm so excited, I can barely contain myself...

I'll start at the beginning. I got out of the hospital this morning-no, yesterday morning, and met the senshi at the shrine. Rei still looked really bad-I found out why later, but I'll get to that part in a minute. Anyway, to make a long story short, we teleported up to the Moon Kingdom-or what was left of it, anyway. It was really spooky; I kept remembering bits and pieces of being the princess, which just made it worse. The memories were nice though, most of them anyway. I guess there were a lot of parties back in the Silver Millenium.

Anyway, I'm getting off track. Rei kept hearing voices (and I heard Beryl once too! It was sooooo freaky), but I told her that the voice in her head-she called it Metallia, and she said it was the thing trying to come through the portal yesterday-wouldn't be bothering her if it wasn't afraid of her. We saw Kunzite again (or at least his ghost), and what looked like me-except that whoever or whatever it was was all rotten and nasty. >_< I wonder-was that my body from when the Moon Kingdom fell? I really hope not... Rei burned it up though, which made me feel a little better.

Then, things took a serious turn for the worse. Kunzite showed up again and said something to Rei, and she... she... oh God, Diary, I should have done something! But I just sat there and watched while Metallia changed her and took her away... why didn't I do something...

All right, Usagi, get a hold of yourself. It happened, and I can't change what I did now. Rei-chan disappeared, and Beryl showed up to make the floor give way. We all fell and blacked out. Just when I thought the day couldn't get any worse.

--I know I sound really depressing here, but it wasn't all that bad a day, really! It just sucked in the middle!

When we woke up, we were in what LOOKED like the real Moon Kingdom-not ruined or dark or anything like that. My *ahem* mother, Queen Serenity was there. She was... really messed up. She was beautiful and graceful and all that, but the way she looked reminded me of what Rei looked like yesterday. She was a MAJOR downer too-saying how I'd never be strong enough to defeat Metallia, and how Metallia was invincible, and how we should just stay there and hide with her while Metallia took over the Earth! Minako was really rude to her, but I sure can't blame her-she was more upset about Rei disappearing than I was, and with good reason too. Rei confessed to her yesterday morning before we took care of that portal ^_^ (I can't BELIEVE I forgot to mention that. I am SUCH an airhead sometimes!) Anyway, I told "Serenity-sama" to send everyone else back to Earth, then I told her off like you wouldn't believe! I wish I'd had a videocamera or something. She practically begged me to stay there with her though. I kind of feel sorry for her; it seems like she gave up even before Metallia actually took over. I've got some words for her if I ever see her again, that's for sure-but I will forgive her. I can understand how it must have been REALLY tough to watch the Dark Kingdom destroy everything she had, but just because she felt bad she had no right to try to talk all the rest of us out of fighting!

When we got back to Earth, Tokyo was completely trashed. Rei got to the shrine before we did. Yuuichirou was burned really badly, but I healed him with the crystal (I think, it's sometimes hard to tell.) I couldn't believe how much everything had been leveled-the Dark Kingdom really did a number here while we were stuck on the Moon, I guess. I could barely think-there were bodies everywhere, and all I could think was to make sure my family was okay. Minako somehow figured out that Rei was going to T*A Academy, so I changed course and went there. When I got there, Rei was attacking Minako-the Dark Kingdom really did a number on her, I would never imagine Rei-chan being able to hurt any of us. She tried to hold back-she almost hit both me and Minako, but she never did. Between the two of us we finally managed to get through to her and get rid of the Dark Kingdom's control, but... she was in really bad shape. We did finally manage to get her to stop beating herself up, but I really, REALLY need to keep an eye on Minako from here on out. That's all I'm going to say.

Then we got to the big one. Tokyo Tower. Is it just me, or does the Dark Kingdom always head for the tallest thing they can find? We fought a little group of youma right outside, then Rei used some of her weird Dark Kingdom stuff to help us get inside the tower. I still wish she'd never had to go through that, but I have to admit it really helped us out a few times today. I still can't help but feel like it was my fault somehow.

Anyway, we got attacked by this weird youma coming out of the wall. Minako managed to get out of the way of it, but she almost fell off the stairs! Oh yeah, we had to climb the stairs-all the way to the top of the stupid Tokyo Tower! Stupid Dark Kingdom-they should have left the elevators working. But back to the stairs-I got hit by one of the youma's claws and almost-ALMOST fell off the stairs myself. Rei got her leg torn up a little too. Mercury managed to freeze it in place though, and we just climbed past it.

Top of the tower. I almost peed myself when I saw Beryl up there with Endymion next to her. Oh, did I forget to mention that? Rei-chan told me one of the first things she did after Metallia turned her was to capture Mamoru again. Apparently he didn't put up much of a fight, either; I'll be honest, Diary, I don't know what to think of him at this point. But I can get into that later. Minako fired off a Crescent Beam at Beryl, but it got intercepted by some kind of shield from her crystal ball. Then she fired some sort of awful black energy at me! I was so freaked out, but I just BARELY managed to get out of the way, thank GOD. I don't know what came over me at that point, but I just couldn't stand the thought of that damn witch taking Mamoru, and Rei, and god knows whatever else she had planned. I aimed for her ball and let her have it with everything I had... and the ball just exploded, right in her face! I almost passed out right there from the shock-I've never done anything like that before-not without the crystal, and then it feels like it's more IT doing things than it is ME. She collapsed from that, and Herb and Rei finished her off really easily. Endymion tried to rush me, but Mercury managed to trip him-I almost giggled at seeing little Ami take out big strong Endymion like that. We could all feel something big coming right then though-Metallia. I healed Endymion really fast, and braced myself for the fight.

Metallia was ABSOLUTELY HUGE! I remembered what Serenity said, but I didn't care-there was NO way I was going to let this... thing take over and do to the Earth what it did to the Moon. Minako, Rei, Makoto and I all joined our power to try to attack it directly-but even with as much as we were putting into it, we were STILL getting beaten back! I was scared to try it while I was linked with the others, but I focused on the crystal, and threw everything I had along with its power into beating her. I was SO scared while I was using it. I didn't know if that much power would crisp everyone else, or if I could even handle that much myself, or if everything we had even WITH the crystal would be enough. I guess I really didn't need to worry too much though-I could feel Metallia try to fight back, but the crystal's power just blew through her like wet tissue paper. Then, I fainted. Are you surprised? Didn't think so.

We all woke up on top of the tower (yours truly slept in as usual, thank you very much!) and Tokyo was COMPLETELY back to normal. Everything Rei did was completely gone, and she says she can't feel anything evil, anywhere (not even in herself!) She still looked a bit worse for wear, but the rest of us don't look a lot better. She's still got her white hair, but all the other changes she had while she was with Metallia are gone-no burn mark on her forehead, and her eyes are back to normal too. I went to the shrine to pick up my stuff and told Rei to come talk to me if she needs anything. I felt bad about leaving her-she looked like she was still pretty upset-but I couldn't help it, I REALLY wanted to come home and see Mom and Dad.

I'm still not sure this was the right decision, but I told my parents about being Sailor Moon after I got home. For one thing, Mom looked about ready to kill me when I got back (I actually hugged Shingo-baka in the middle of the road, I was so excited to see him) and I really, REALLY didn't want to get grounded when I really did help to save everyone, so I told them. Everyone laughed at first, but I transformed, right in front of them, just to show them! Shingo still wouldn't believe it, the baka, but Mom and Dad passed out-I probably shouldn't have done it quite so suddenly like that, but how else was I supposed to prove it to them? Anyway, I managed to talk to them a little bit about what happened-it looks like the past few days, all the way back to that awful portal opening, got erased or rewritten or something, because they didn't remember any of it. Turns out we were all missing for two days, so I guess we were out for a long time back on the Moon when the Queen rescued us. Guess we showed HER. Anyway, I think Luna was the biggest shock of all-Mom looked like she was about to faint again when she said hello. Of course, now she's insisting that Luna eat at the table with the rest of us; I swear if I get cat hair in my food I'm going to drop-kick her out my bedroom window.

Minako's talking about a vacation in Hawaii; I think that's the BEST idea I've heard all year!

P.S. Don't tell anyone yet, but I'm thinking of trying to go see the queen tomorrow. I want a few words with "her Majesty" about what she told us about Metallia. I might take Luna along; even with as depressing as the queen is, I'll bet Luna would like to see her again.

P.P.S. Despite everything that's happened today, Diary, I'm kind of nervous. I've felt sort of... empty after I woke up from fighting Metallia, and I think I know why. I can't find the wand or the crystal. I don't want to think I lost it or broke it, but...

I can NOT let Luna see this entry-if she thinks I lost the crystal, I'll never hear the end of it. I'll write more tomorrow if I can manage to talk to the queen.

[Anastasia]

Cool, Hal. It's a nice look into that rabbit brain of yours.