Hello again, everyone.  Here's my new one and I have some things to say 
before you start reading.  

This story starts one day before the start of Sailor Moon Universal Chapter
One.You know the part where Darien goes on vacation?  This starts one day 
before then.

This story is longer than usual.  I've noticed that my stories tend to be
heavily dialogue driven.  This one is in the beginning and end, but the main
parts are action driven.  Write and tell me how it went.  Once again the 
address is Jendra@aol.com.  I want to thank all the people who have already
written me.  All four of you.

All other standard disclaimers were written in Chapter One, go look at them
there.

Enjoy

Sailor Moon Universal

Chapter Four:  Darien's Quest


The phone rang.

Darien sat up quickly, trying to shake the cobwebs out of his brain.  The 
dream had not had time to go all the way through before the phone had awoken 
him.  He had not had to live through the death of his love again this night, 
at least.  For a moment, he was grateful to the person on the other end of
the phone that had woken him.  Then he looked at the clock.

"Who would be calling at this time of the night?"  he asked aloud.  Then, 
all sleepiness was banished as his mind came up with one reason for a call 
in the middle of the night.  *Something must have happened to Serena* he 
thought fearfully.

"Hello" he asked, almost timidly, as he picked up the phone.

"Hey, Darien, I was starting to think you weren't there!" a cheery voice 
came over the line.  "Why'd it take you so long to answer?"

Darien's mind was trying to come up with a name for the voice.  Once he had 
realized nothing drastic was happening, all he wanted was sleep.  Finally, 
the tone and accent combined into a face.  "Michael"  he said very quietly, 
"I really hope you have a good reason for calling me at three in the 
morning!"  By the end of the sentance Darien was shouting. 

"Three?"  Michael gulped, "I'm sorry, I guess I got the time change mixed 
up. Oh well, now that you're up, don't you even want to know why I've 
called?"

Darien laughed, he never could stay mad at Michael.  Michael had been an 
exchange student last year and the two boys had become friends.  Both felt 
seperated from everything around them, Michael from being so far away from 
everything he knew, and Darien because of the accident so long ago, that 
took away both his family and any memory he might have had of them.  "I 
suppose so, now that I'm up."

"Well, you see, it's this way.  My uncle, you know, the grouchy one with the 
ranch in Colorado, the relative I was always complaining about?  Well, he 
died about three months ago and he left me his ranch!  Can you believe it!  
Me!  And I didn't even like the old geezer.  Was that nice of him, or what?  
Anyway, I called Andrew to tell him about it and he said that you were 
thinking of taking a vacation.  I find that very hard to believe, you were 
always working when I was there, could barely even find time to have fun.  
You know how you were, either studying or working, or occasionly going for 
a jog in the morning.  I mean you could be majorly boring."  

Darien had tuned most of this out and the constant chatter had almost lulled 
him back to sleep.  Michael's chatter tended to have that effect on people.  
Michael's next words snapped him back to full wakefulness.  "Could you 
repeat that?  I was still half asleep."

"I said, do you want to come to the ranch for your vacation.  We got 
forests, and mountains and horses and cows and even our own ghost."  Michael 
was grinning to himself.  It would be good to see Darien again and he knew 
how much Darien liked, what did he call it, oh yeah, parapsychic phenomenon.

"A ghost, huh?  Sounds like fun, but I was planning on starting my vacation 
tomorrow."  Almost before Darien stopped talking, Michael had started again.

"That's no problem.  We can handle you tomorrow.  Just get you a plane 
ticket, call me with the time you're gonna get in at the Denver airport, 
and I'll be waiting for you.  There's not much I can do at the ranch at the 
moment, the segundo handles everything, I just sign the bills.  Come on, say 
you'll come.  I promise you'll have a great time.  This is a great place to 
get away from your troubles.  Nothing ever happens here."

Darien was thinking about Michaels words.  *A great place to get away from 
my troubles?  I wonder if it would be a good place to get away from my 
dreams?* "Look," is what he said, "I'll think about it and call you tonight. 
If I do decide to come, I'll give you my flight information then.  Okay?"

"Okay," Michael said.  "I really hope you come, it'll be great to see you 
again.  It'll be fun, you'll see.  You do know how to ride, don't you?  
Well, even if you don't, you can learn.  You always did pick up things 
fast.  And you've got to see the Anasazi ruins.  They're said to be haunted 
by a guardian spirit..."

"Michael,"  Darien interupted firmly.  "I'll give you my answer tonight.  
Now I need to get some sleep.  I'll talk to you at seven."

"Are you sure that will give you enough time?"  Michael asked, faintly
worried.  He had been sure Darien would come, but he couldn't get everything 
done that quick.  Darien soon put his worries to rest.

"Seven o'clock my time, not yours.  I'm not doing anything for the next 
little while but sleeping.  Good-bye."

"Bye.  Waaiit a minute!  Seven o'clock your time is"  Michael finished his 
sentence into a dial tone, "three o'clock in the morning my time.  Uh oh!"

Darien smiled slightly to himself as he settled back down to sleep.  That 
hadn't been a nice thing to do to him, but Darien hadn't been able to 
resist. He had already decided to go.  It would be nice to see Michael 
again.  He always had been fun to be around.  Darien decided he would call 
earlier as a thank you for waking him from the nightmare.  Darien slid 
gently into sleep and right back into his nightmare.

When Darien awoke the next morning, he was grouchy.  He usually was these 
days.  Nights interupted constantly by dreams of Serena's death, did not 
make for a pleasant sleep.  Although his vacation didn't officially start 
until the next day, he never worked on Sundays and so decided to spend the 
day getting ready for his trip.  He went to a travel agents and made 
reservations to leave in the morning.  However, he would not actually get 
to Denver, until Tuesday morning, Denver time.  He stopped by the arcade to 
ask Andrew to water his plants while he was gone and they talked about the 
trip. Darien also asked Andrew not to tell Serena, or any of her gang, where 
he would be.

He knew that tomorrow would be the hard part.  He would have to tell Serena 
he was leaving.  He worried a little about leaving her and Reenie relatively 
unprotected, but with the decrease in Negaverse activity, he was sure that 
the Sailor Scouts could handle anything that came up.

At seven o'clock that night he called Michael.  Michael didn't even bother 
with a greeting.  "I'm going to kill you as soon as you get here," he 
snarled.  "At least when I called you, it was an 'accident'!"

Darien laughed out loud.  "I'm sorry, I just got the time change mixed up.  
Do you want the flight information or not?"  After giving Michael the 
information, and making him read it back to make sure he had it right, 
Darien allowed Michael to go back to sleep while he started to pack.


The next morning.

Knowing Serena's habits well, Darien waited at the corner in front of the 
arcade.  After another night of bad dreams, he just wanted to be out of 
here, but he couldn't leave without saying good-bye. *Surely it won't do any 
harm.*

Sure enough, Serena came barreling around the corner less than five minutes 
after he got there.  WHAM!  Of course she ran right into him, she always
did.  Darien took a deep breath, and told her.  Her response wasn't as bad 
as he was expecting, but in some ways it was worse.  He was expecting the 
loud wail that announced to the world that she was hurt, instead he got 
quiet tears that she was obviously trying to stop.  The wail he knew how to 
deal with, but watching her try to be mature about something that was 
tearing her apart, was tearing 'him' apart.  His heart was very heavy as he 
walked away and he turned around to watch her run, not seeming to care where 
she was going.  *Good-bye Serena.  Hopefully, by the time I return, I'll be 
able to come to a final decision.  It 'cannot' go on this way.  It's hurting 
us both too much.*  And Darien walked on to finish getting ready to go.


Denver International Airport  Tuesday morning

Darien walked off the plane.  He looked terrible.  He hadn't dared sleep on 
the plane in case the nightmare came back and he would wake everyone up by 
shouting in his sleep.  Instead he had spent the flight thinking about 
Serena, worrying about Serena, worrying about Reenie, and reading up on the 
Anasazi people.  Not exactly a comforting flight.  He looked around.  It 
wasn't really necessary.  It was very hard to miss Michael.  He was standing 
in the lounge, jumping up and down like a kid Reenie's age, instead of a 
young man of twenty.

"Darien!"  he shouted, "Hey Darien, you look awful man, didn't you get any 
sleep on the plane?"  His voice settled down as he got closer.  Their hands 
met in a hearty clasp, then Michael threw his arm around Darien's shoulder 
to guide him to the baggage claim.  Michael was about an inch taller than 
Darien with blazing red hair, dancing hazel eyes and was very muscular.  
Although he said he didn't do much work on the ranch, it obviously wasn't 
because he didn't have the strength.  "I bet you spent the whole trip 
studying, didn't you?  What's this?  A book on the Anasazi?  I knew it.  
You couldn't have gotten an adventure book or an intrigue, could you?  
Noooo, you brought a 'text' book!  We have a small cliff village on my 
property, I'll take you up to see it later this week.  I thought we could 
go skiing for a couple days first.  There's a ski lodge only an hour or so 
from my house that I've heard is really good.  I already got us reservations.
Don't worry that you don't have the right clothes, you can always rent them.
I was going to show you around the ranch today and then we would leave 
tomorrow for the lodge but you look like you would rather spend the day 
in a bed, don't worry I have one for you."

"That'll be fine, Michael,"  Darien smiled tiredly as they waited for his 
baggage.

That's how the week passed, in skiing, reminiscing, laughter and chatter.  
And no dreams.  Darien could hardly believe waking up that morning after 
the first undisturbed night's sleep he'd had in over a month.


On Saturday, Darien and Michael rode up to a canyon on the far end of the 
ranch.  Darien stared in disbelief as he saw the small village built 'inside'
of the cliff.  

Michael grinned at Darien's expression.  He remembered his first reaction to 
seeing the Anasazi town.  Although he had heard of the cliff villages, read 
about them and even seen pictures of them, 'nothing' compared to seeing one 
for the first time.  For once, he decided to keep quiet and just let Darien 
look.  Not that he could do it for long.  "Well, what do you think?  Isn't 
it the most awesome thing you've ever seen?  We're going to go up there 
tomorrow.  There's a camp site not far from here where we'll spend the 
night. Come on, we need to be set up before dark."

Darien tore his eyes off of the impressive sight before him.  He should have 
known that Michael wouldn't be able to keep silent for long.  Darien had 
wished to get to a place without the dreams so he could think undisturbed.  
He'd managed to get away from the dreams, but finding undisturbed time to 
think was proving to be almost impossible.  Michael was always there and 
'always' talking.

The next morning they climbed a very steep trail up to the village.  Michael 
couldn't stop playing tour guide.  "The Anasazi started building these cliff 
villages about fourteen hundred years ago and stopped about nine hundred
years ago.  They left soon after and no one knows why.  You've got to be 
careful up there.  They built underground rooms called kivas.  You need to 
stay on the path, it's known to be safe.  Inside the rooms is fine too, but 
don't go wandering around outside, okay?  We don't want you falling into a 
kiva, they're very deep and you could get hurt."

Darien wasn't paying attention.  His eyes were eagerly roving over the view 
before him.  He walked carefully into the first house they came to.  Although
there was very little left in the room except for dust, his mind filled it 
with people and things.  He climbed the new ladder up to the second story, 
trying to imagine what life had been like for these intriguing people.  When 
Michael realized Darien was caught up in his own little world, he started 
exploring himself.  Even though he had been here before, every time he came 
it was like the first time.

After several hours, Darien finally called out to Michael, "What about this 
ghost you were telling me about?  Didn't you tell me he haunted this mesa?"

"Yeah, he's been seen in that house over there."  Michael pointed to a house,
set apart from the others.  Although the other houses shared walls with each 
other, this one stood alone.  Darien started walking towards the house.  
Michael looked up, suddenly. "DARIEN!  NO!  DON'T WALK THAT WAY!" 

Darien turned to look at Michael in surprise.  It was the worst thing he 
could have done.  As Michael looked on fearfully, the ground collapsed 
beneath Darien and he disappeared with a yell.  "DARIEN!!!"

Michael ran to where Darien had fallen, sure that Darien had at least broken 
a leg, he 'knew' how deep those kivas were.  He called out as he got to the 
edge and got the surprise of his life.  "Darien?"

"Yeah?" Darien called out from the underground room.  "This is interesting.  
Could you send down one of the lanterns?  I'd like to take a closer look at 
this place."

Michael just stood there for a few minutes in utter stupification.  "Don't 
scare me like that!  I'll go get a rope to get you out of there.  Are you 
sure you're alright?"

"Can you get me a lantern, too?  I really want a better look around here and 
the light from the hole in the roof isn't worth much.  And I'm fine."  *It's 
times like these, that I'm glad some of my abilities as Tuxedo Mask can be 
used in this form, otherwise I 'would' have gotten hurt.*

Michael passed down a lantern, as he tried to get into a position to pull 
his friend up.  Darien lit the lantern and looked around.  He called up to 
Michael, "Are you sure this is a kiva?  It looks like there's a tunnel 
leading out of here."  As he looked up to where Michael was standing he 
noticed dust and small rocks falling down from the ceiling.  "Michael! Move 
back!  More of it's going to collapse!"  Michael stepped back and watched in 
horror as the rest of the kiva's ceiling fell down into the hole, totally 
filling it.  

"DDAAARRRRIIIEEENNNNNNN!!!!!"


Darien stood in the tunnel entrance staring out at the dark.  His hand was 
covering his mouth as he tried to breathe through the choking dust.  He had 
lost the lantern as he ran from the room.  He only hoped that Michael had 
been able to move in time.  Even the small amount of sunlight that had come 
through the hole in the ceiling was gone.  

Darien pulled up his shirt collar, to try to block the dust.  *A cape would 
work much better.* he thought as he pulled out a rose and changed into Tuxedo
Mask.  He pulled the cape across his nose and mouth and it did allow him to 
breathe.  

*I was kind of hoping I'd be able to see in the dark in this form.  I guess 
not.  I really need some form of light though.*  Even as he thought it, the 
rose in his hand started to glow.  Tuxedo Mask stared as it brightened 
enough to let him see his surroundings.  

He was standing in a crevice in the rock.  Although it looked as if it had 
been worked upon, it had obviously started out as a natural tunnel.  In 
front of him was completely covered by fallen rock.  Not even his roses 
would be able to get him out that way.

He turned around to look at the tunnel he was standing in.  Up ahead it 
opened up into a larger cave.  He started walking that way.  Just before he 
was about to step inside, his eye was caught by carving in the tunnel wall.  
He looked closer.  Although he would have sworn the runes were a language he 
had never seen before, he understood what they said.

			Your Quest begins here
			This is your last chance to retreat.
			Only those who conquer fear
			Will not meet with defeat.

			Four tests you have to conquer,
			Earth, Air, Water and Fire,
			Yourself, you have to master,
			If to the prize you do aspire.

"Geesh, that's bad poetry.  Well, I can't turn back, so I guess I'll have to 
go on this 'quest'.  It can't be any worse than getting caught in a cave in, 
I guess."  Tuxedo Mask was speaking to himself even as he started into the 
cave.  The cave was fairly pretty, filled with stalactites and stalagmites 
sticking out of the ceiling and floor.  They contained some mineral that 
made them sparkle in the light of the rose.  The cave was also very large, 
the far wall barely in sight and the tunnel entrance in that side just a 
darker blot.

As Tuxedo Mask walked farther into the room, the walls began to shake.  As he
looked up in disbelief, dust started drifting into the room and small stones 
started dropping from the ceiling.  "Not again!" he groaned as he started 
running towards the other side of the chamber.  A little before the middle 
of the chamber, some instinct made him look up.  He gasped in disbelief as 
he threw himself out of the way of the plummeting stalactite.  He was barely 
in time, the rock catching on his cape as he passed.  Instantly, he was on 
his feet again,  this time his eyes on the ceiling instead of the tunnel 
entrance.  Once again, instinct saved him as he jumped over a chasm that 
had suddenly appeared ahead of him.  However his foot landed on a broken 
piece of rock, dropping him to the ground.  

The tremors grew worse.  Stalactites were falling all across the cavern.  
Stalagmites were broken off and rolling back and forth, chasms were opening 
and slamming closed.  Only instinct had saved Tuxedo Mask so far, but as he 
lay winded where he had fallen, he started to feel the way the rock was 
moving.  He jumped to his feet and moved two steps to the left, just 
avoiding getting impaled by a lance of solid rock.  *Well, so far my 
instincts been the only thing saving me, so let's see if it will work if I 
let them guide me.*  He set his body on automatic, trying not to pay 
attention to what was going on about him.  It was one of the hardest things 
he had ever done.  He wanted to flinch from every crash and jump every time 
a chasm slammed shut.  Somehow, he managed not to.  He started running once 
more.  This time chasms he 'knew' were there, were jumped without stopping.  
Roses imploded stalactites just before they fell.  Other roses were thrown 
forward to destroy rolling rocks and other impediments.  

Suddenly, he was there.  He ran through the exit, and stood there panting as 
the cavern collapsed behind him.  "Well, I obviously can't get through that 
way."  He turned to look at the tunnel he was in.

It wasn't a tunnel!  He was in another cave.  This one was slightly smaller 
than the previous one and he looked around it with wary eyes.  However, he 
soon saw that there were no stalactites or stalagmites in this one.  There 
was also no door!  

He searched for minutes, looking for a crack in the walls that would show a 
way out.  He couldn't find one.  He noticed that he was having a hard time 
breathing.  His search became frantic as he searched for a way out, any way 
out.

"Think, Darien, think" he thought out loud.  He knew he couldn't afford the 
air, but needed to hear his own words.  "That last cavern must have been the 
challenge of earth that the poem spoke of.  So this is the challenge of air.
That means there 'has' to be a way out.  You can't make a challenge that 
can't be solved.  Now think."  He was silent for several minutes while still 
prowling the chamber.  He stopped and stared at the rose in his hand.  The 
petals were moving!

*The air is moving 'out'.*  He thought, this time silently.  *There's got to 
be a way for the air to be moving through the wall.*  He stared at his rose, 
but the air current was not strong enough to show a direction.  He pulled 
more roses out of thin air and stripped their petals off.  He then threw the 
petals in the air.  They all moved slightly towards the left wall.  He 
followed the petals, throwing more into the air as necessary, until he had 
reached the edge of the cave.  He dropped to his knees and pressed his hands 
against the wall.  He was gasping, and felt more and more as if he was going 
to pass out.  Then he felt it.  A protuberance in the wall moved as he felt 
over it.  With almost the last of his strength he pushed it.  Air roared 
back into the room as a small passageway opened.

Tuxedo Mask just sat there for long minutes, breathing.  He knew there were 
still two more 'tests' in front of him.  He also now knew the tests could be 
lethal.  He planned to get as much of his strength back as possible before 
he went into the next test.

Finally, he crawled through the small passageway.  It was so small that he 
had to crawl on his hands and knees.  At first he kept his rose light in his 
hands but soon moved it to his teeth.  After almost ten minutes of crawling 
on his hands and knees, the passageway ended.  Suddenly.  Tuxedo Mask yelled 
as he once again felt himself falling.  

SPLASH!!

Once again, Tuxedo Mask lost his breath as he hit the ice cold water of the 
underground river.  He desperately swam for the surface and got his head up 
just in time to see the tunnel ceiling drop even to the water.  He grabbed a 
quick breath and dove.  His head just barely dropped below the water level 
in time and he could feel the roof brush against his hair.  He swam as fast 
as he could in that position, hoping, praying that the tunnel would rise 
before he ran out of air.  The ice water was also getting to him, but he was 
not quite as troubled by the cold as most people would be.

His cape was dragging, slowing him down, so he unhooked it and let it drop 
behind.  He kept swimming, the exertion helping to keep him warm, although 
it was also costing him precious air.  Just as he was convinced he would 
have to stop, he felt open air above him.  He popped his head up and gulped 
the air that had gathered there.  It was a very small indention, but he was 
able to take several breaths before he used up all the oxygen and had to 
start swimming again.

The third of these air pockets was big enough that he could stay there 
comfortably for a short while, as long as the current didn't grab him too 
hard.  It gave him time to think.  *Maybe I'm not doing this right.  All 
I've been doing is going with the flow, there's got to be more to the 
challenge than that.  Maybe if I let my instincts take over again?*  He 
closed his eyes and tried to feel around him, the way he had 'felt' the 
earth moving.  After several seconds, he opened his eyes again, *Well that 
didn't work.*

*Hey, what's that?!  Warmer water?  Where's it coming from?*  Again he felt 
the touch of a warmer current.  He decided to follow it.  He didn't have any 
better ideas.  He set off swimming back in the direction he came from.

The warm current was very small, but Tuxedo Mask managed to keep one of his 
hands inside it.  Of course, one warm hand made the rest of his body even 
colder, but he withstood it stoicly.  More and more of the water was warming 
up, then suddenly, it was gone!

Tuxedo Mask put one hand on the ceiling to hold himself in place.  With his 
other hand he pulled out another rose and started it glowing.  With it 
clenched in his teeth, he turned around and started swimming with the 
current once more.

There it was!  A small side tunnel.  He swam into it, hoping he had chosen 
the right course.  Long before his air started running out again, the tunnel 
opened up.  Tuxedo Mask raised his head.  The rose in his teeth lit up 
another large cavern and a ledge that ran around the edge, only two feet 
above the water.

Tuxedo Mask pulled himself up on the ledge and lay there for long moments, 
just gasping and trying to get his strength back.

Finally, he stood up.   There in front of him was another cave entrance.  He 
sighed as he tried to get ready for the next, and hopefully last, challenge. 
He straightened his tuxedo, and tried to straighten his hat, before he 
realized he had lost it several caves ago.  He sighed again, resigned, and 
walked into the next cavern.

He knew what the next challenge was even before he saw the red flickering on 
the walls and the felt the heat pulsing through the opening.  Fire.  The 
fourth and last challenge.  He walked inside, half expecting the door to slam
shut behind him and was slightly surprised when it didn't.

Inside, was a wall of fire.  It seemed to be burning rock.  There was 
nothing else there for it 'to' burn.  Tuxedo Mask thought for a moment and 
then detransformed into Darien.  He immediately retransformed, not only 
because it was what he had planned to do, but also because it was much 
hotter to his regular form than to his Tuxedo Mask form.  When he 
transformed back, he was dry once more and wearing a top hat and cape.  

He went to the river and filled his cape with water.  Walking back into the 
fire room, he threw the water on the fire.  The fire went out, but before he 
could even congratulate himself on finding such an easy way through, it 
flared up again.  He tried several times, on several different parts of the 
fire with the same results.  The only things he was able to figure from this 
was that the fire was not feeding on anything and was indeed a wall about two
feet wide.

*Maybe if the fire doesn't feed on anything, it won't really burn anything 
either.*  One rose thrown into the fire, turned that theory into ashes.  The 
rose too.

After almost fifteen minutes of trying to put out the fire, he came to a 
single conclusion.  *I'm going to have to go through it.  Nothing else 
works.*  Tuxedo Mask went back to the river and jumped in.  Then he filled 
his cape with water.  With one motion he threw the water onto the fire and 
twirled the cape around to cover his face and hands as he ran through the 
open space in the fire.  The fire sprang back up as he was halfway through, 
but the water on his clothes kept them from burning until he stood on bare 
ground on the other side of the fire.  

Before him was an archway.  This was no tunnel entrance or natural crevice.  
This was an 'archway'.  It was covered in carvings and inlaid with gold and 
precious stones.  Tuxedo Mask just stared for a long moment, then 
detransformed, and retransformed.  He had the feeling he needed to look his 
best before stepping into the next room.  He stepped into the archway.

"Who dares to enter here?"  A voice spoke from out of nowhere.

"Tuxedo Mask!"  Tuxedo Mask answered confidently as he started to walk in, 
only to be repulsed.

"Who dares to enter here?"  the voice came again.

Tuxedo Mask detransformed.  "Darien Chiba."  Darien almost asked and tried 
walking forward once more.  Once more he was repulsed.

"Who dares to enter here?"  the voice sounded as impatient as such a voice 
could.

Darien thought about it for a long moment, staring at the carvings on the 
gate.  He transformed to Tuxedo Mask and continued on until Prince Endymion, 
in his black armor stood there.  "I am Prince Endymion of the kingdom of 
Earth, and I dare to enter here."  he said stepping forward.  This time he 
was allowed through but could only take three steps before being stopped.  
He tried to go on, but found he couldn't move.

"Which are you, you must choose." the voice said almost sympathetically.  
"Who do you wish to be?"

Endymion thought about it for a very long moment.  Darien Chiba was the one 
who belonged in this time, but Tuxedo Mask was the one who fought.  And as 
for Prince Endymion, he was a person of the past who had little in common 
with the present, except the Princess that he loved.  He thought and thought 
and found only one answer that seemed to fit the choice.

"I wish to be myself."  He was not sure the voice would accept that answer, 
but it was the only one he could make.  It simply was not a choice he could 
make, for all of his selves had their place and he could 'not' choose one 
above the other.

The voice, however, seemed delighted with the answer as it announced, "You 
may pass."

Prince Endymion stepped forward into the room that was obviously the object 
of his quest.  The room was even more ornamented than the archway was.  
Light flickered from some unknown source, flickering over the pictures of 
the walls.  Carvings of people, places and things covered the walls.  On one 
wall was an accurate picture of the Silver Palace of the Moon, complete with 
Queen Serenity and her daughter standing on a balcony.  Endymion stared for 
a long time at this accurate representation of the woman he had loved for 
over a thousand years.  His mind went back to the last fight for the Moon 
Kingdom, when she had jumped into the beam that killed him, because she 
refused to leave him.

Other pictures showed various kingdoms, all nine planets, with their royal 
families and Scouts.  *Nine Scouts? Does that mean there are four we haven't 
found or did they not get sent into the future?*  Then he found what was 
obviously a picture of the Kingdom of Earth.  There were three figures 
represented there.  A king, a queen, and a male scout?!  *That's...that's 
me!!  Me, a Scout!  No, I would have known, there aren't any male scouts, 
are there?* he babbled to himself.  

A voice answered his innermost thoughts. "Yes, Prince Endymion, you were 
Sailor Earth.  Tuxedo Mask is not your form as the Guardian of Earth, it is 
your form as the Guardian of the Princess.  It is stronger than your Scout 
form, but do not forget you have the power to transform to Sailor Earth.  
Being Sailor Earth allows you to meld your powers with the other scouts to 
intensify a Sailor Planet attack or to feed the Moon Crystal.  You can not 
do that as Tuxedo Mask."

"You mean in that battle with Metallia, I could have added my powers to 
theirs if I had been able to transform into Sailor Earth?"  Endymion was 
still shocked at this revelation, but was already starting to think of the 
implications.  It was true, he could not help on group efforts because his 
power was too different from the Scouts.  "What do I need to do to 
transform?"  he asked, positive it was the right thing to do.

"Look in the center of the room."  Endymion moved towards the pedastal in 
the middle of the cavern.  Sitting there was a jewel, an opal, a very large 
opal, being around the size of Serena's crystal and whose colors shifted in 
the flickering light.  "Each of the three great kingdoms had a jewel that 
held a great deal of their power.  This is Earth's.  Although people tended 
to give them distinguished names, such as the Silver Imperium Crystal, in 
the beginning it was just the Moon Crystal, as this was the Earth Gem.  As 
Princess Serenity uses her Moon Crystal to transform into Sailor Moon, so 
can you use the Earth Gem to transform into Sailor Earth.  Try it.  You know 
what to do."

Endymion transformed down into Darian.  He took hold of the opal and raised 
it into the air.  "EARTH GEM POWER!"  As he spoke the words the trasformation
began.  Beams of light, green, white, blue, and red came from the opal and 
swirled around him.  When the lights faded Sailor Earth stood there.  He 
wore a one piece pants suit like male gymnasts wear.  His shirt was white 
with black sleeves and his pants were a dark green, his shoes looked almost 
like sneakers and were black, as was his belt.  Instead of a tiara, he wore 
a headband, dark green with the sign of Earth on it.  

Sailor Earth looked down at himself, before speaking to the voice, "Not bad.
What were the colors that came from the opal?"

"They are the colors of the elements, green for earth, white for air, blue 
for water and red for fire."  the voice now seemed amused.  "Now, look at 
the base of the pedastal."

Sailor Earth decided he had better do as the voice said.  At least the 
costume didn't have bows.  That would have been too much.  

At the bottom of the pedastal was a ring.  It was made of gold, carved with 
the signs of the four elements and with an empty setting in the middle.  

"Place the opal in the setting."  the voice said, once again unemotional.

"It won't...Never mind."  Sailor Earth said.  So far the voice seemed to know
what it was talking about, it probably knew this time too.  As he placed the 
opal in the setting of the ring he was surprised as it seemed to shrink to 
fit.  He shrugged and put it on, after detransforming back into Darien.

He looked at the pedastal one more time, and saw words carved where the opal 
had stood.  "What are these?"  he asked the voice that seemed to know 
everything.

"They are the words to a prophecy, read them and remember, they are very 
important to the future of this world, this universe, but they are only the 
first part of the prophecy; others hold the other parts.  Read and remember."
The voice sounded sad, and Darien had the idea he would have to leave 
after he read the words.

"Who are you?  Are you the ghost on the mesa?"  Darien was still curious 
about that.

"I am the guardian of this place.  The opal was placed here a thousand years 
ago, to keep it out of Queen Beryl's hands.  I volunteered to stay and set 
up the challenges.  We hoped that you would come for it, but had no idea how 
long it would take.  I was to stay here until you did, then I would be free 
to leave.  After I felt your rebirth, I traveled often to watch you grow, I 
saw you join the Sailor Scouts.  I did however, often wonder why you didn't 
seem to know each other, and why you didn't come for the Gem."

"We have very few memories of our last life.  They were wiped when we were 
reborn.  I didn't know to come here.  I have no memories of my parents or my 
life here on Earth before the battle."

"Those I can give you."  The voice was excited, "I cannot give you any 
memories of your time on the Moon, but your life here on Earth I know well.  
Do you wish them?"

"Yes!  I would love to remember my parents."  Even as Darien was speaking, 
memories started pouring into him.  Life with his parents as the Prince of 
Earth.  Formal gatherings and informal ones, riding his horse through the 
hills, racing his best friends, learning sword play and diplomacy, playing 
tricks on his tutors and punishments he usually snuck out of, quiet times 
with his parents when they weren't busy with other things.  A fairly normal 
childhood except for the things he had to learn as prince.  How to sit 
through extremely boring audiences without yawning, knowing when a problem 
requires a royal answer or only needs time, making just judgements and even 
occasionaly sentances.  Darien remembered the first time he had to order 
someone's death for treason and his first battle.  Still, all in all it was 
a good childhood and Endymion had enjoyed it immensely, as did Darien when 
reliving it.

Now the voice sounded very tired.  "It is all I can do.  Read the prophecy 
and remember the words."

Darien moved to the pedestal.  The words were in the same runes as the ones 
at the beginning, this time he knew how he understood, remembering his 
lessons.

			Three bloodlines and four crowns
			For Universal Power
			Nine Scouts of five planets
			To stand upon the hour

As Darien stared at the runes, the room dissolved from around him and he was 
in a cave entrance on the edge of the mesa.  From where he stood, he could 
see the cliff village.  *Michael must be worried sick,* he thought as he 
walked towards the village.  He was surprised when he got there.  Michael 
wasn't there, and the kiva had been almost completely dug out.  *That 
couldn't have happened in the short time I was gone, could it?*

Darien walked down to their campsite.  The fire pit looked like it hadn't 
had a fire in it for days.  He shrugged and started walking back to the 
ranch.  

After several hours, he heard a shout.  He looked up to see one of the 
cowboys he had met coming toward him.  "What are you doing on this la... Mr. 
Chiba?"

"What's the matter?  You look like you just saw a ghost."  Darien was very 
surprised at the reaction he got.  The cowboy had turned white when he first 
got a good look at Darien and was slowly backing his horse away.

"Are you sure you're not?"  the cowboy asked nervously.

"Not what?  A ghost?  Of course not.  What's going on?  I thought Michael 
would still be at the mesa, it's only been about half a day since I fell 
into the kiva."  Then he looked at the cowboys face and finished slowly 
"Hasn't it?"

"No, sir.  You've been missing for more than a week.  They tried digging out 
the kiva, but it just kept collapsing on them.  They finally decided you 
couldn't have lived through that and declared you officially dead.  The boss 
already called and told all your friends about it.  They were planning on 
having a memorial service next week, when your friends could get here."  
Darien's face looked sick.  *They told Serena I was dead!  She must be going 
crazy!*

"How far back to the ranch house?  I need to call home and tell them I'm 
okay."  Darien was almost frantic.

"Well, if you're sure you're not a ghost, I'll take you.  We should be back 
in a couple of hours."  Darien thankfully climbed up on the back of the 
horse and they headed back to the ranch.


Michael stared at the approaching riders in disbelief.  He ran outside as 
Darien dismounted and thanked the cowboy and he moved off.  Then Michael 
ran down the stairs and threw his arms around his best friend.  He was so 
moved that he couldn't even speak.  He had spent days searching the village.
He had heard Darien talking about the tunnel, and thought he might have 
gotten in there and saved himself, but after days of futile searching had 
had to give up.  Then came the hardest part of all.  He called Andrew to 
tell him what had happened, because Andrew was the only one of Darien's 
friends that he knew.  He knew that Andrew had the really hard part, telling 
everybody else.

Darien held Michael, sensing how he felt.  Then he pulled away.  Although he 
knew how disturbed Michael was, his thoughts were on Serena.  For Serena to 
have heard of his death like that was awful.  Although the time had not 
been as long for him as it obviously had been for the others, he had had 
enough time on the walk back to finally do some thinking about Serena.  He 
had finally decided.  There was nothing in this world that could beat the 
two of them together, especially now he had the Earth Gem.  He was not going 
to let anything separate them again, not even himself.  He couldn't wait to 
tell her and planned to change his reservations to this week.  

"I need to talk to the people at home, Michael.  Can I use your phone?"

Michael still didn't speak as he led Darien inside.  He thought about how 
his friends would feel if they were suddenly told he was dead and couldn't 
blame Darien for wanting to set everybody straight.

Darien checked the time.  It was five in the afternoon, which would make it 
nine the next morning in Tokyo.  He turned to Michael, "What day is it?" he 
asked, not quite sure he wanted to know the answer.  

Michael looked at him a little strangely, and answered.  "It's Monday.  You 
disappeared last Sunday, and I called Andrew to tell him about it on 
Wednesday."

*So it's Tuesday morning.  Serena will be in school, so I guess I'd better 
call Andrew.*  He dialed.

"Hello. Crown Arcade."  Andrews voice came over the line. 

"Andrew, this is Darien.  Don't panic.  I'm not dead.  I just got lost in 
some caves for the last week."

"This is a joke, right?"  Andrew sounded mad.

"It's not a joke, Andrew.  Michael did tell you that I fell into a kiva, 
right?  Well, when the ceiling collapsed I was able to get into a tunnel and 
spent the last little while wandering around in there.  I just found my way 
out a couple of hours ago."  He stopped to give Andrew time to get used to 
the idea, before asking the important question.  "Did you tell Serena I was 
dead?"

"It's really you, Darien?"  Now Andrew's voice was a mixture of joy, relief 
and disbelief.  "Yes, I told Serena, I told everyone.  She sure seemed to 
take it bad.  She collapsed crying and Travis had to practically carry her 
home.  Since then she hasn't talked about it, but she's not all that sad.  
Of course, she's usually with Travis so maybe he's the reason."

"Who's Travis?"  Darien's voice sounded normal, which surprised him.  He 
felt like he was dying inside.

"Oh, yeah, you never met him.  Well Travis moved here from Virginia about 
two weeks ago.  He and Serena became good friends very fast.  She keeps 
saying he's not her boyfriend, but nobody believes her.  I mean they're 
together 'all the time'.  Especially now that..."

Darien interrupted him.  He couldn't hear anymore.  "Look, will you tell 
everyone that I'm fine, and I'll be back in about a week?"

"You're going to finish your vacation there?"  Andrew said, sort of 
surprised, he would've thought that Darien would wish to come home to 'show' 
everyone that he was alright.

"Yeah, I still have some thinking to do.  I'll see you in a week."  Darien 
slowly hung up the phone and dropped his head into his hands.  *I guess I 
went too far, taking this vacation.  Serena's got a new boyfriend and didn't 
even seem to care that I was dead!  Serena's got a new...I knew I had left 
it too late.  Why couldn't I have decided sooner?  While there was still a 
chance?  Oh, Serena, I love you so much, now I've lost you and it's...all...
my...fault!*

----------------
Well, what did you think?  Now that you've read this, you might have some 
idea of what is going to happen in Sailor Moon Universal, Chapter Five.  
It's called The Twins.  Tell me what you thought.
Jendra@aol.com

You really should learn some about the Anasazi, it's a fascinating story.
Do a search on the term Anasazi and find the web page on Mesa Verde State
Park, it's got some really good pictures of cliff dwellings.