((Total word count: 3391. Words written exclusively by me: 3021.))

Devorah Gellner was a shy, sweet, and clumsy girl. She was loved by many, family and friends alike. Her two parents, Andrew and Raquel, loved her dearly and missed her greatly as they lived far from Destiny City in a small town in southern Florida. She often kept to herself, but maintained close relationships throughout her life with close friends Ume McDougall or Fallon Novette-Naim. She had one boyfriend, Damian Cole, who she loved and then resented, and was developing a crush on a boy named Jack Stark shortly before she went missing – and she will never be seen again.

Devorah Gellner, unbeknownst to the world at large, was as good as dead. Something had changed within her - deep within her – a change in the very core of her existence. Her secret alter ego, Sailor Requiem, was no longer misled as a Senshi warrior for Order – she was an enlightened being of Chaos. She had blossomed; she had evolved. She had become Dark Mirror Super Sailor Requiem.

And with this change in her secret identity, her public persona changed as well. Her civilian identity had been replaced. She was no longer recognized in this form as the shy, sweet, and clumsy girl known as Devi Gellner - such recognition would be impossible for those not privy to the secret. She would be known now only as Tova Katz, a new identity she had created for herself, but there were still matters to take care of regarding her former identity.

Tova splashed cool water on her face and dried off with a hand towel, alone in the bathroom of the suite she used to call her home. It was where Fallon had taken Devi in, allowed her to stay with her while her parents fled from the dangers of the city. They trusted Fallon and her mother to keep Devi safe from harm. Perhaps if they weren’t so trusting they would be able to see their daughter again; but that was neither here nor there. She was safe and would always be safe beside Fallon – or beside Princess Ares.

Tova stared deeply into the mirror, looking at herself straight in the eyes. She felt she looked the same, able to see through the glamour that others could not. She combed her fingers through her short, messy hair and contemplated the course of action she was preparing to take: the burial of her former self, the removal of her existence.

She emerged from the bathroom and into the bedroom, taking the moment in. She hadn’t returned to her room in quite sometime – it was unsurprisingly still. Everything looked just as she left it. The room was adorned with photos of her and her former friends, but she couldn’t allow there to be any emotional attachment. She needed to treat the room not as her bedroom, but treat it with the same familiarity as a cheap motel room.

She picked up a photo on her nightstand. It was a picture of her from the prom only a few weeks prior. She remembered bits and pieces from the night – she had gotten pretty drunk. She remembered the ride to the prom and feeling like a third wheel to Eilian and Fallon’s date. She hadn’t quite picked up on their relationship, but she had seen Eilian sneak in and out of their house a few times in the middle of the night. She remembered dancing with Jada and overall, a night of belligerence…

”Well you’re not going to ******** her, so beat it!” Devi shouted to the boy who had been dancing with Jada, before she ungracefully interrupted. As the boy scattered off, she smiled to her dancing partner and swayed with little drunken class. They danced throughout the song, until some other boy approached Jada for a dance.

“Why, Devi! Look, there’s Fallon! I bet she and Eilian would love to see you. Aren’t they wearing such pretty dresses? You should go say hi,” Jada said, dismissing Devi, who obeyed like a trained puppy. Devi began her march over towards the two women, only to be stopped by her arch-nemesis, Becky McZlutt, who she had already threatened once that evening.

“Can’t handle your liquor, can you Devi?” Becky teased. “I still haven’t seen your date? Or was that woman your date?”

“Look, I told you to back off once tonight and I’m not going to say it again,” she slurred.

“Oh, that’s right,” Becky laughed. “You said your invisible boyfriend with kick my a**. It was all really cute.”

“Know what else is cute?” Devi slurred some more. “This.”

She reached one hand forth, her hand fumbling on Becky’s breast for a moment before clutching to the front of her dress – with a grip on the bra as well - and yanking it down. The dress tore and tissue stuffing from under the bra poured out as Becky’s breasts were revealed to the dance floor at large.

-SLAP.-

Becky’s hand struck her cheek hard, complete with rings to cut her face. Before Becky could finish covering herself up and fix her dress, a security guard had arrived and grabbed Devi to escort her off the premises. The whole night had been a disaster, but the look of embarrassment on Becky’s face had made the whole night worth it.

Tova smiled at the picture of her lone self, posing with her imaginary date for the evening. She tossed the picture and the rest of her personal belongings on the nightstand into the bag she had brought with her and continued her search through the room. She moved over to the bulletin board hanging above her desk where more photos and sentimental items were tacked on. She began to pull them off, tossing them one by one into the bag. She paused for a moment, staring at the tassel hanging on the wall from her high school graduation cap.

”Devi Gellner,” the principal called as Devi walked onto the graduate stage, dressed in her cap and gown. She was handed a mock diploma to signify her graduation and symbolically moved the tassel to the other side of her cap. At last, she was a high school graduate. She had so much hope in herself that day, eager to move onto the next chapter of her life at Destiny City University in the fall.

It was one of her happiest moments after a span of several excruciatingly difficult weeks. She finally was over the mourning process of her relationship with Damian, was becoming more adjusted to living with her parents far away – who had come to Destiny City for the graduation ceremony – and was leaving the days of the brutal high school social hierarchy behind her. She was ready to be a college girl, study film pursue a career.

All those hopes and dreams were changed, now. She was in the process of getting forms forged for her now identity so that she can enroll in college, but her past accomplishments no longer meant anything. Everything she could ever put on a resume would have to be a lie; everything she was ever proud of herself for could only now be a memory with nothing left to show for it. She tossed the tassel into the bag with the rest, looking at her now empty bulletin board; a blank canvas.

She looked at her laptop, still sitting open on her desk. She tapped the mousepad to wake it up, opening to a word processor containing a script. Tova smiled. She had worked on this script for over a year – on and off - with her best friend, Ume McDougall. The script had gone through hundreds of complete rewrites and remained unfinished…

Devi rolled over on her bed, lounging with her laptop by her side. The word processor blinked at her as she stared and blinked back, lost as what words to write next.

“Okay, now how should we have the killer die?” she questioned. “He’s running through the woods, chasing the final girl down. She trips on a root and falls onto her face, tumbling over only to see the reflection of the killer’s blade rising above his head. It is about to slam into her chest and then…and ********. And then what?”

“Maybe we should leave it open,” Ume started, steeping her fingers. “I mean it always sucks when they ‘kill’ the killer and then bring him back suddenly for another movie. It’s more fun to wonder if he’s still OUT there…or her, though I realize that female serial killers make up a far slimmer portion of the…” She stopped herself and waved a dismissive hand of her own rambling about criminal statistics. “Well, you know what I mean.”

“Yes, yes, Office McDougall,” Devi teased. She thought for a moment, placing one hand on her chin as if stroking an imaginary beard. It always looked so cool when men did that in movies. “I like that. Leave it open ended, leave it almost unfinished. Let any feelings about the characters be unresolved; no reason to make the audience say a real good bye to any of them.”

It was their last time seeing each other, and like the audience to the characters of the movie, the two best friends will never get a chance to say goodbye. Tova choked up, resisting tears as she closed the laptop with the unfinished script. She dropped the laptop into the bag of belongings and continued to move about the room.

She moved over to a painting hanging on the wall – a small little thing she had done for an elective art class back at Meadowview High. It was a painting of a skull with a black and blue background, something that was inspired by one of her secret then-role-models, Sailor Nemesis. As Requiem, she had always looked up to Nemesis, and that idolization came to form in the painting. The two had a bond, she felt, and Nemesis often times was a mentor to the Senshi of Burial…

Requiem was beat. The Negaverse agents had just been abducted and finally locked away in the Blood Moon Court’s makeshift prison camp, and the plans of the Court had finally been set in motion after weeks of planning. Requiem was tasked that night, along with Ares, to abduct General Tanzanite. The Senshi of Burial had successfully chloroformed and tied up the general, but only after a great deal of fighting which resulted in many cuts and bruises.

The young Senshi lied down on a couch in what the Court was using as their lounge in this prison camp, stretching her battered muscles. Her mentor, Super Sailor Nemesis, was there too, both exhausted from the battle that night.

Nemesis was reveling in their victory, and hoarding a tray of snacks to herself. The senshi of Decay sat in a rich red lounge chair, legs languidly stretched out in front of her. They had a lot of work ahead of them, but they could at least enjoy this first strike against the Negaverse. The Negaverse had been totally fooled, and now they had some of the more reputable members under their stone cold hands. "I feel like we should be breaking out the booze," she commented into the air. At first it seemed like her words weren't directed at anyone, but her gaze cut over to Requiem in that next moment, an uncharacterstic smile curling her lips.

"And there should be balloons. Lots of goddamn balloons," she continued with a breathless laugh.

“Lets not start celebrating just yet,” Requiem grinned. “But when the time comes, and these damn skulls of the Negaverse crack under our feet – then yes, we’ll have booze and balloons.” She laughed at the thought, imagining the sound of the cracking skulls. Her sense of humor was always quite twisted, but her morbid humor had peaked in the recent weeks with the planning of the prison.

“We are the good guys in all this, right?” she asked, serious for a moment. She knew the answer was obvious – of course they were the good guys. “You know, setting up this prison camp, abducting them, planning their deaths? We’re still doing the right thing?”

"I think we should sprinkle some balloons and booze between each battle, to keep us motivated. But, Ares never listens to my ideas." There was a mock pout upon her face as she spoke, evidence that she was in an unusually good mood. Very rarely did Nemesis display this lighter side, and it could either be contributed to their victory or that she was moderately comfortable with being open around Requiem. Over the months, she had worked with the Senshi of Burial enough to get used to her. Or at least decide to like her.

"Of course. The good guys always win, and as you can see, we are winning. Don't ask stupid questions," Nemesis scolded in an almost playful way. "But yes, we're the good guys. If you felt, truly felt evil, you would stop. But, you went through with it, and here we are. You're good. Don't ask that again."

But they were wrong. Tova knew that that now after being the truth was exposed to her. Their plans – all of Operation Rota – were done in misguided vain, and were actions that she would need to repent for. Sure, she still had her reservations about the agents they abducted, particularly Tanzanite, but that didn’t make the Blood Moon Court’s actions right. They still were fighting for the wrong side, they just didn’t know it. But one day they will learn, they’ll all learn; even Nemesis.

Tova unhooked the painting that bore Devi’s signature from the wall and tossed into the bag. She moved over to her dresser and opened the top drawer, pulling out a familiar grey hoodie. She brought to her face and sniffed it – a faint familiar scent of her former life still lingered on it. It showed its markings of its wear and tear over the years to the extent of the sweatshirt being identifiably hers – which meant there was no longer any room for it in this world. She tossed it in the bag along with handfuls of other clothes, leaving nothing behind in the drawers.

She then grabbed a small bouquet of flowers that lay on top of the dresser. They had a small card inside, a note from the admirer who had given them to her. The admirer was Jack Stark, who Devi had one lovely date with that ended on a typically awkward note.

”Well, this is my door,” Devi smiled as the keys fumbled between her fingers. Jack had been kind enough to walk her to the door after their date. From what she had learned from viewings of many romantic comedies and from little of her own personal experience, this was the point in a date where it would be appropriate for a first kiss. The farewell on a first date was critical – a kiss would be a sign the date went well, which it did.

But the nerves caught up to the teenager. She had very little experience in the dating world and she was still in process of emerging from the rubble of her last crumbled relationship. Was she ready for this? She knew that she wanted to, and her body language was clear in that as she seemed to lean in for a smooch, but something in her made her back out, stray away. She promptly backed away with no haste and opened the door.

“Good night,” she mumbled as she hurriedly went inside and shut the door behind her, nearly slamming it in the boy’s face. She leaned along the door, and beat her the back of her head against it in humiliated frustration.

Despite the shortcomings of the date, she managed to excuse herself and score a second date. However, the date was yet to occur, and without Devi’s existence there simply would be no date. Tova supposed she could arrange to cancel the date, but if the goal was to leave Devi completely behind her she knew she couldn’t go back into that identity. Jack would have to be stood up, as simple as that.

She tossed the flowers into the bag and took a seat on her bed, already stripped of its sheets. Little remained in her room – her work was nearly done. She had removed any reminders of her past boyfriend, Damian, a few months back, but all of the details regarding their relationship seemed so hazy to her now. Bits and pieces seemed to have been forgotten, and even their break up wasn’t entirely clear. Despite this, however, thinking back to their break up still filled her with a heartbroken rage.

”Think you might have another round in you?” Damian questioned as he began to kiss his way down her body. They had just slept together for the first time, and Devi was deep in thought. Just before they slept together, why did he not tell her he loved her back? She had been able to tell him.

The details then became hazy until she asked the question: “Do you love me?”

The rest was history and his answer was clear, but the details surrounding it were all so masked. Tova wondered if that was the reason why she had so much anger about the break up still – she never got full closure, a full understanding of why they broke up.

She was nearly done clearing the room. It was barren of any decorations or any objects that could be identifiable to her – except for one box under her bed. She crouched down and pulled it out, opening the box of her many diaries. There were over a dozen filled-out diaries of her emotions detailing every tiny event of her small life. Eventually they were written in code – an attempt to keep her life as a Senshi private while also utilizing the diaries as a means of catharsis.

She grabbed on from the top – the most recent of the diaries that covered the past two years and flipped through it, mournful tears of nostalgia forming in her eyes. There were writings of a cliff party, a memorable night at prom, being serenaded on Valentine’s Day, moving into a new home, painful memories of a night of watching her parents be tortured, a peculiar visit to another planet, stories of a cake monster and magical crystals, strange dreams about traveling through Wonderland, a recollection of a horrible first date, meeting her first boyfriend, and an awful nightmare about her death.

The one diary was the most important of all in the box – it held the most secrets. Its pages contained the details of the most important events of her young life, the most important events that she will ever live. They were her firsts, her biggest changes and the biggest turning point of her life; and it was the final book in the series of Devi Gellner’s diaries. It was the one that needed to disappear most of all.

She tossed it into the bag, and then dumped the rest of the diaries into the bag on top of it before sealing the bag shut. It was quite heavy, but she dragged it towards the mirror leaning against the wall. She focused for a second and shifted her mind and body – becoming Super Sailor Requiem.

The parallel Senshi of Burial was able to pick up the bag with more ease as she marched into the mirror itself. She crossed through mirror space and out through the other end – emerging out of a mirror she had placed in the middle of the woods south of Destiny City. Only a few feet away was a large deep pit she had dug some hours earlier.

She approached the edge of the pit and tore open the bag, dumping its contents into the pit. Out poured the diaries of her life, the bouquet of flowers, the familiar grey sweatshirt, the signed painting, the unfinished script, the graduation tassel, the photo from prom…all of her belongings lie in the grave.

“Good bye Devi,” Requiem said, staring down at the shards of her existence six feet under as she coated it with the first layer of dirt.

“Rest in peace.”