Luna jumped up to the window sill again and settled in to watch. She
laughed a little as throughout the practice Serena tried to wheedle
details of the date out of Aurora and Aurora deftly side-stepped each
question.

	"O.K. Practice over," Aurora announced. "Go change and I'll answer all
your questions."


	Serena rushed to change and then ran down the hall to the kitchen.
Aurora was already sitting at the table twirling one of the yellow roses
between the fingers of her right hand with a far-away look on her face.

	"O.K. Tell me!" Serena pleaded as she settled on the chair facing
Aurora and chose a cookie off of the waiting plate.

	"Well, he's very rich. We went to 'Chez Noire'..."

	"That really expensive French restaurant?" Serena squeaked.

	Aurora nodded yes, "and had a really nice time."

	Serena sagged a little. "Oh, come on! That wasn't anything!"

	Aurora giggled. "Well, what more do you want?"

	"I want to know all the details!" Serena giggled back.

	"Well he has an interesting sense of humor," Aurora smiled, recalling
the youma crack.

	"Oooh! You are driving me crazy! What does he look like? Did he kiss
you? What's his name!" Serena bounced in her chair in frustration.

	"O.K.," Aurora relented. "He's very tall, maybe six foot five or six,
and has these beautiful blue eyes and long red hair and the greatest
smile."

	Serena giggled to herself. *Boy, Aurora has fallen hard!*

	"His name is Maxfield Stanton and yes, he did kiss me," Aurora finished
in a sigh.

	*Maxfield Stanton? Nephlyte? Ack!* Serena didn't hear the rest of
Aurora's sentence.

	"Maxfield Stanton?" Serena repeated, stunned.

	"You know him?" Aurora wondered at the strange expression on Serena's
face.

	"Know him! Boy, do I ever! Aurora, you can't go out with this guy! He's
major bad news!"

	"What are you talking about, Serena?" Aurora frowned.

	"He's really evil, Aurora," she answered, her voice full of concern for
her new friend.

	"What do you mean? He was sweet and a perfect gentleman. How would you
know, anyway?" Aurora defended her heart.

	"I just do! Believe me on this, please." *I can't tell her how I know,
she wouldn't believe me, anyway!* Serena groaned to herself.

	"How!" Aurora demanded, her emerald colored eyes starting to sparkle
with anger.

	"I just do," Serena muttered in a little voice. "Please, don't get mad!
I just don't want to see you get hurt, that's all."

	"I don't think we should talk about this anymore," Aurora put the rose
back into the vase.

	"Um...O.K.," Serena picked up another cookie and stuffed it into her
mouth. *What am I going to do? She doesn't believe me. Luna, where are
you when I really need you?*

	The silence hung between them like a tangible thing. Serena wondered if
she should go, but didn't want to leave with Aurora angry at her.
*Change the subject...*

	"So, what does your Dad do?" She tried.

	Aurora looked up at her, the expression in her eyes hopeful.

	Serena let out a mental sigh of relief. *She doesn't want to fight
either...O.K. stick to something safe and deal with the Nephlyte issue
later...*

	"He's a trouble shooter for a big company. They send him all over the
world," Aurora answered with pride.

	"Wow. Do you get to go with him sometimes?"

	"I did when I was little, but as soon as I started Jr. High, we decided
that I needed to stay in school. I miss him, though."

	"I'd love to be able to travel like that," Serena grinned. "Where is
your Mom?" She had been wondering about that.

	"I don't remember my mother. She left us when I was still a baby,"
Aurora answered in a steady voice.

	"Oh, I'm sorry," Serena blushed. *Oh, man, I did it again!*

	"Why?" Aurora gave her a reassuring smile. "She obviously put us behind
her. Daddy looked for her for a long time, but he never found her and
she apparently didn't care enough to see how I was growing up."

	There was no bitterness in her voice, only a calm acceptance which was
somehow more upsetting.

	"Oh, Aurora," Serena gulped as her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry!"

	"It's O.K., Serena," Aurora told her as she got up and gathered the
other girl into a hug.

	"It's just..I didn't mean...everything I've said has upset you!" Serena
sniffled against her shoulder.

	"It's O.K.," Aurora told her again. "I'm not angry and I know you are
just trying to be a friend."

	"Really?" Serena straightened and swiped at her eyes, the tears gone
with Aurora's forgiveness.

	"Really," she gave Serena a gentle squeeze, then released her and
pushed the plate at her. "Now, eat some more of these cookies. I don't
need to have them in the house to tempt me when you've gone."

	Serena obliged and Aurora smiled at her with amusement as she stuffed
them in, one after the other.

	"You should chew every now and then, you know?"

	Serena giggled as she glanced down at her watch. "Oh! I've got to go!"

	Aurora walked with her to the door. She noticed Serena chewing on her
lower lip with a worried look.

	"I'll see you on Tuesday at class?" Aurora knew what Serena wanted to
say, but didn't want to hear it.

	"Yes. Um, you be careful," Serena put a lot of emphasis on that last
word. "Thanks for the cookies and helping me practice."

	"You're welcome. And I promise, I will be careful."

	Serena smiled at her, gave her a quick hug then sprinted down the
sidewalk. Luna ran to join her.

	"Serena! Why are you running?" Luna huffed, then had to put on the
brakes as Serena rounded the corner and stopped.

	"Aurora's in trouble. Nephlyte's after her!" Serena gasped out as she
bent over at the waist and took big breaths.

	"What?" Luna's voice was full of disbelief.

	"Her date last night? It was with Nephlyte."

	"Why would Nephlyte want to take Aurora on a date?" Luna questioned,
more to herself than to her companion.

	"I don't know!" Serena yelled in frustration. "Don't you?"

	"Me? How would I know?" Luna snapped back.

	"You're the expert on the bad guys."

	"No, I'm not. Now, let's calm down. Are you sure it was Nephlyte?"

	Serena nodded. "He's after her, I know it! But why?"

	The two exchanged equally puzzled glances.

	"Luna, you stay and keep an eye on her, O.K.?"

	"That's a good idea, Serena! You go on home and if anything comes up,
I'll call you, all right?"

	Serena nodded again with a huge grin on her face, pleased by Luna's
praise.

	"Well, go on!" Luna scolded as she turned and ran back towards Aurora's
place.


						***


	Aurora stood in the kitchen and stared at the roses. She didn't
understand why Serena had freaked out like that. She thought back on
last night and tried to find anything that would give some credence to
Serena's accusations. She found nothing. The only strange thing she had
noticed was that his hands and his lips where almost cold to her touch,
but that didn't mean anything.

	She heaved a sigh and then yawned. She was tired. The nightmare had
come again in the wee hours of the night and she hadn't been able to go
back to sleep. Maybe she should take a nap. She wandered back to her
bedroom and flopped down onto the bed. She stared at the ceiling for a
bit, then rolled over onto her stomach, then to her side. Her gaze went
to the chest of drawers. She sighed again and then got up to go and sit
cross-legged on the floor before it. She pulled open the bottom drawer
and carefully pulled a badly creased photograph out from under a pile of
neatly folded sweaters. She held it gently in both hands and stared at
the images. It was of the woman who was her mother holding an infant
wrapped in a blanket and her father, without the gray that touched his
hair now, with a little boy held in the crook of his arm. She remembered
finding this photo when she was four, under the cushions of the couch.

	She had been delighted and had taken it to Daddy, wanting to know who
the woman and the little boy were. Daddy had gotten very angry and
demanded to know where she had gotten it from. That had made her cry and
she could barely gulp out that she had found it in the sofa. Then Daddy
had started to cry too, which had made her cry harder. But he told her
it was all right as he picked her up in his strong arms and told her it
was just an old photo and that she should just forget about it. She
remembered watching him crumple it up in his hand and throw it in the
trash can. She had snuck out of her room that night and tiptoed very
carefully past his sleeping form on the sofa, not understanding that he
had drunk himself into a stupor. She rescued it and carefully flattened
it back out to hide in her box of special treasures.

	When she turned seven, Daddy had finally told her the truth about her
mother. How she had just left one night when Aurora was four months old
with out a word of explanation. He told her how he had looked for her,
how he had even hired a private detective, but that he couldn't find
her. She waited for him to tell her about the little boy, but he didn't.
She asked if she was his only child, trying to get him to tell her. He
had gotten such a strange look, later she realized it was of grief, and
had whispered, "Yes."

	She hadn't said anything, confused. That night Daddy drank himself
asleep. She hated when he did that and decided that she wouldn't say
anything more about her mother or the boy in the photo. But that didn't
mean she didn't think about them. She studied the wrinkled image of the
little boy. He couldn't have been more than two here and his resemblance
to Daddy was unmistakable. A brother she couldn't remember. She traced
the outline of her mother's cheek with her finger and wondered why she
had left, why she had taken her brother and left her baby girl. She
wondered if her mother had ever told him that he had a little sister.
She imagined not. She put the photo back in it's safe spot as her
tiredness overcoming her at last, then crawled back onto the bed and
fell asleep.

	Luna jumped back to her spot on Aurora's window sill and peered in. The
girl was asleep. She sank down and tucked her paws under her chest as
she yawned and decided that a nap was a wonderful idea.


						***


	The ringing phone jarred her awake. She fumbled for the receiver in the
dark and wondered how long she'd been asleep as she mumbled, "Hello?"

	"Aurora?"

	"Yes?" She hit the light button of her clock, not placing the voice.
*9: 40!*

	"This is Maxfield."

	That brought her totally awake.

	"I need to talk to you. Can you meet me at Cherry Hill Park?"

	"Um, yeah, sure. Give me twenty minutes?"

	"I'll be waiting. It's important, Aurora." With that the line went
dead.

	Aurora changed quickly then went into the bathroom and washed her face,
brushed her hair into place then grabbed her jacket and headed out the
door. She wasn't aware that she had a shadow in the shape of a lithe
black cat.

	"Oh, no!" Luna whispered to herself as she saw Nephlyte standing at the
park entrance.

	She ducked into some bushes, summoned her communicator and tapped in
Serena's sequence.

	"What?" Serena's reply was sharp.

	She had her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth and her eyes
focused on something else.

	"Serena! Stop playing that video game! Aurora's with Nephlyte right now
and we might need Sailor Moon and the other Senshi."

	"I'll be right there," Serena muttered and then grimaced. "Auugh! You
just got me killed, Luna!"

	"Just get here, Serena. Now!" Luna growled and then sent the
communicator back to it's inter-dimensional holding place.


					***


	Maxfield smiled at her as she came up to him. "Right on time."

	"You said it was important," she smiled back.

	He looked down, his smile gone. "It is. Walk with me for a while?"

	He turned and headed into the park and Aurora fell into step quietly at
his side.

	*What's wrong?* she wondered, troubled by his silence.

	He led them to one of the more secluded benches and sat down with a
sigh. She settled next to him and waited for him to break their silence.

	He turned his face toward her, caught her eyes with his blue gaze. "I
asked you here so I could tell you good-bye."

	Her heart felt like a lead lump.

	"Oh," was all she could say.

	He took her hand into his own and held it tightly. "But I wanted you to
know that I'm deeply attracted to you."

	"Then why?" She asked, confused.

	"I'm in trouble. Some very dangerous people are after me and I don't
want to see you get hurt."

	Her heart fluttered back to life. "What kind of trouble?"

	"I need to find something. Unfortunately, others are looking for it
also."

	"What?"

	"The Silver Imperium Crystal," he studied her closely, looking for any
reaction. She just blinked at him, no recognition in her features at
all.

	"What is that?" She asked as he stood up and walked a few steps from
her.

	"You don't know?" He sounded angry.

	"No. I really don't. Do you have a picture of it?"

	He shook his head.

	"You won't help me then?" His voice held a note of despair.

	"Yes, I will. Just tell me how!" She insisted.

	He whirled around. There was something in his hand that threw a
throbbing blue light. He held it out towards her.

	"What is that?" She asked as she squinted at it. *Why was it glowing
like that?*

	"It's my Star Crystal. It's tuned to the Imperium Crystal and it's
reacting to you."

	"Why?" She wondered.

	"I don't know. I hoped you would tell me."

	She stared at them both, not knowing what to say.

	"I don't know," she whispered. "I really don't."

	He closed his fingers around it and hid it's light, then put it into
his pocket. He took a step towards her. She saw him take a breath to say
something more, then a new voice rang out.

	"Hold it right there! What are you up to Nephlyte?"

	Maxfield whirled to face the voice.

	"Stay out of my business!" He growled at Sailor Moon.

	Sailor Moon? Aurora couldn't believe it.

	"I am Sailor Moon, champion of love and justice and in the name of the
Moon, I will stop you!" She announced as she squared off with Maxfield.

	*What was going on?* "What are you doing?" Aurora yelled.

	"Aurora, this man is really a youma from another dimension named
Nephlyte who wants to destroy our world. Understand?" Sailor Moon yelled
back.

	"Are you crazy?" Aurora asked as she looked between the two of them.

	Neither of them paid her any attention.

	Black energy surged around Maxfield, then exploded from his
outstretched hands towards Sailor Moon. Aurora watched, stunned. She
didn't understand, didn't want to believe as she watched the battle
progress. She stood up, intending to stop this craziness as Maxfield
advanced on Sailor Moon, who was down. Two more feminine voices rang
out, announcing themselves as Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury. She
couldn't hear Maxfield's response, but whatever he said, it must have
made the two new Senshi mad.

	The one called Mercury raised her hands and a stream of bubbles flowed
from them then exploded into an almost impenetrable cold fog. A streak
of fire cut through the fog and Maxfield landed close to her, down on
one knee, obviously hurt.

	"Are you all right?" She called as she started towards him.

	He whipped his head around to look at her, surprise on his features.

	She stepped in front of him, put herself between him and the Senshi and
glared at them.

	Sailor Moon let out a little 'eep!' as she managed to stop the glowing
disk of her tiara right before it left her hand.

	"Why are you doing this?" Aurora demanded.

	"He's evil, Aurora! Can't you see that?" The one called Mercury told
her.

	"Step aside, right now!" Sailor Mars demanded.

	"No. You want him, you'll have to go through me first," Aurora replied,
icy determination filling her voice.

	She couldn't see Nephlyte's incredulous look behind her.

	Mercury tried again. "How can you protect him, Aurora? You saw what he
did, what he is!"

	"I don't care. I love him." *There. It was out.*

	"Oh, Aurora," Sailor Moon whispered.

	The Star Crystal was like fire against his side. Nephlyte grabbed it
out of his pocket and stared at it in wonder. Unnoticed in the shadows,
another creature had been watching this exchange. It thought it saw the
thing it's master was searching so hard for.

	"Is that the Imperium Crystal?" It screeched as it launched itself at
Nephlyte.

	"NO!" Nephlyte bellowed as the Star Crystal sailed out of his hand as
he fought off the youma's attack.

	Aurora grabbed it as it hit the ground. The youma leapt at her.

	"Give me the Crystal!" It growled into her face as it grabbed the hand
which held it with one of it's own as it backhanded her hard with the
other.

	She heard Maxfield bellow her name as she slipped into unconsciousness.

	
	
	Aurora blinked up at the stars. The whole left side of her face hurt,
throbbed in time with the beat of her heart. She jerked herself upright.

	"Maxfield?" She looked frantically around the empty glade then twitched
violently as a hand closed on her shoulder.

	"It's O.K., Aurora. You're O.K."

	Aurora whirled. "Serena? What are you doing here?"

	"I was kind of spying on you. I was worried," she said as her cheeks
flushed with embarrassment.

	"Then you saw what happened?" Aurora whispered as tears welled in her
eyes.

	Serena nodded, her face solemn.

	"Where did Maxfield go?" Aurora asked, trying to fight the tears.

	"He just, left," Serena told her as gently as possible.

	"Oh, Serena! I...I..." with that she broke down and started to sob.

	Serena wrapped her arms around her friend and rocked her back and
forth. She swore to herself that she would get Nephlyte for doing this
to Aurora.


					***************