"Trail of Fears"

"Raye!! Aurora!! Mina!! Answer me!!" screamed Serena, who was hobbling along, being carried by her little brother. Tear stains were embedded on her cheeks from her earlier wailing. The moon had appeared already, but mostly shrouded by the thick clouds in the sky above the group. No stars were visible either, so wishing upon one would be worthless.

"We're lost, aren't we?" asked Molly, still tugging at the fingercuffs.

"Don't worry. We just need to find a clearing or somewhere we can build a fire!" answered Melvin, the only one still with an optimistic mood.

"We're in the middle of the woods! Do you really expect there to be a clearing unless we reach the end of it?" yelled Serena, anger flashing in her eyes. "I can't believe Raye left us like that! Talk about rude!"

"She didn't want Mina to get lost. She was trying to help a friend. They probably all got lost," Molly answered quietly, trying to calm Serena down, for this was one of the few times in her life she had ever seen her best friend get truly angry.

"She's no friend of mine!" Serena shot back.

"You're not mad at Aurora?" asked Melvin, walking backwards.

"Shut up Melvin!" yelled Molly.

"Could you three please stop bickering?" asked Sammy, getting annoyed by the immaturity of the rest of the team.

"Let's take a break," said Molly, once again in a normal tone of voice.

"Good idea!" sighed Sammy, as he leaned back against a tree, making Serena lose her balance. Serena screamed as she tumbled beackwards into the trees.

"Serena!" screamed Molly. She ran towards where Serena had seemed to go, dragging Melvin behind him. She slowly maneuvered down the steep hill, eventually reaching the bottom, Melvin and Sammy directly behind her. Serena stood before her, lying on the ground. Molly ran up to her, slipping out of the fingercuffs, and pulled her up. "Speak to me!"

"How'd you do that?" asked Melvin in amazement, holding up his finger with a fingercuff stuck on it.

"My arm hurts..." Serena moaned and started to whimper.

"No wonder... You've got a nasty gash on it. If we only had some ice..." Molly answered.

"Guys... I think we've found a place to stay..." Sammy suddenly said, standing up and staring straight ahead at Nephlite's old mansion.

"What are you talk-" started Molly, as she turned her head and looked at the structure before them. "It's..... humongous..."

"Then lets go... It will probably rain soon, and we'll need some shelter," added Melvin.

"Good idea," whispered Serena, and all four of them started toward the mansion.

"Can we attack them now, Queen Nega?" asked Phobius. Sailor Nega and Phobius were levitating in the trees, watching the four shadows below them slowly moving toward the mansion.

Sailor Nega looked at the house, and recognized it immediately from the Negaverse's records. It used to be Nephlite's mansion. He used this as a center of energy to pinpoint his victims. What a better place to gather energy than on nega-grounds? Sailor Nega slyly thought. "No! We wait. Our attack will be unsuspected once they're settled!"

"Good idea, Queen Nega," Phobius nodded.

"Why wouldn't it be? I came up with it."