"Isn't she cute?" asked Michelle, who was holding a two month old Terra. Alex smiled, it was true, she was cute, but she wasn't about to admit that to Michelle. "Whatever."
Michelle looked up, "Yeah, and I bet you don't want to hold her either."
Her smile changed to frown as she thought about her choices: One, she could hold Terra and get the 'I told you so' speech, two, she could ignore the question, or three, she could tell Michelle it was time to go and hope that she would want to drive. The latter won. "Michelle, aren't we supposed to meet Serena at the arcade?"
It worked. Michelle glanced at her watch, noting it was indeed time to go. "OK, but you're not driving with kids in the car, so you can hold Ter." She took the small infant and followed her lover out the door, just barely hearing "I told you so!"
Rei sighed. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do: they had a new evil enemy and only three scouts to take care of it. It wasn't at all what she wanted, but it was something she had to deal with. She rolled over on her side and thought back to when they found out Serena had left.
Rei was sitting in the hospital lobby. She wasn't in the best of moods. Lita had just thrown her out of her room because of what they had said to Serena. Lita had been rambling on about Luna and Serena going somewhere, and Rei, not knowing what she was talking about, sent Mina to see if Serena was at home.
"Rei are you alright?"
"Fine, Ames just wondering if we were to harsh on Serena," she answered.
"You know we had to do it. If we didn't then somebody might have been killed the next time she decided to play Sailor V," Ami lied easier then she thought possible, because for the last fifteen minutes she had been afraid they had gone too far.
"I know, but did you see her face? I was almost afraid that she was going to bring out the crystal and just kill us."
Ami almost giggled at the thought of Serena using the crystal out of hatred, but then thought about the situation. "Rei, you and I both know that Serena could never kill anybody, and she has just been to irresponsible lately. Look in that hospital room, Lita is laying in there fighting for her life, because Serena couldn't make it to the fight!"
At that exact moment, Mina came running towards them. Once she regained her breath she stated, "Guys, we have problems. Serena and Luna left. She took most of her stuff and left a note for me at my house saying that if we ever needed any help, to talk to Artemis."
For once in Rei's life she felt pure hatred her princess, never once did she again feel sorry for what she had done to Serena. "Lets make an agreement, guys. Never will we feel sorry for what we did to Serena, she has put us in too much danger from now on we are the only Sailor Scouts."
Mina was scared at the tone that Rei's voice had taken, and quickly agreed afraid of what would happen to her if she didn't, but what she saw in Ami's eyes scared her worse than anything Rei could say. "Yes, now there is no Sailor Moon, and never again will we ever need or ask for her help. From now on Mars is our leader, and we don't answer to anyone else," agreed Ami.
Rei sighed once more before turning to chase Chad around the Temple.
"So now you're going after my brother, huh Li?" said an amused voice as the two broke off their kiss in shock. In a matter of seconds, the young girl was on the floor with her brother and best friend, bombarding her with questions.
"Sere, what are you doing home? You weren't supposed to be back till next week!" exclaimed Lita.
"Yeah, and where's Terra?" added Andrew.
Serena giggled, and answered, "Well, I met Michelle and Alex in LA and they convinced me to come back earlier, and Terra is with them right now, but they'll be here in a few minutes."
"Good, I can't wait to see her. Oh, my gosh, you cut your hair! It's really pretty, Sere. You look like Heather with blond hair." Lita babbled.
"Lita, geez chill! It's not like you haven't seen me in a year! You just saw me last month!" she paused, "Andrew can I talk to you for a minute? Alone."
He nodded, and they walked into back room. "OK, Sere, what's wrong? You look to serious for it to be nothing."
"You're not going to like this, but Aries is at it again. Dad warned me yesterday before I left. He said that Aries somehow convinced Hades that Earthlings shouldn't be living. But there is good news, he's not going to kill any of the scouts, except Darien, who I couldn't care less about."
Andrew looked at his sister, as she said the last sentence and knew she wasn't telling the truth, because if you looked into her eyes, you could see love, longing, and eternal pain, but he decided to leave the subject alone. "Sere, that's not possible. You know that Hades worships you! But, if he is right then we're going to have our hands full. Hades is the strongest in the family and when he believes in something it takes the whole underworld to convince him that he's wrong."
"I know, but at least I should be able to hold him off, because I thought taught him how to fight. But, if Aries decides to join in and actually fight for once, then we'll have to call Dad to help."
"Oh, yes, dear old Dad," he muttered with what would seem like a vengeance greater then any other.
" Drew it's time you get over that, it's not his fault that Mom died. He wasn't even in this galaxy at the time!"
"I know, Sere, but it's easier to blame him, then face the fact that it's our fault."
"I know, but for what it's worth at least she's happy." She paused, "Anyway I'm calling a meeting tomorrow, so could you make sure that all the outers and Lita get there."
"Sure, but where are you going?"
She smiled nervously and said, "To see my family. I have decided to tell them about everything. I mean, they still don't know where I am."
"Don't you think you should take Terra?"
"Yeah, well anyway, lets go before Li thinks we've ditched her for the Sailor V game!" they both laughed.
Darien smiled softly at the small picture of him and Serena that he was staring at. It was one that they had taken at the beach the day they healed Alan and Ann. That was the day that.no, he wasn't going to think about that it was too painful. He sighed and turned on the TV switching from channel to channel in hopes of finding something to take his mind off Serena, but failed miserably. Taking another approach he picked up the two ton physics book by his bed.
Again, he failed, as he pictured her beautiful smile. Sighing again, he let the memories overtake him.
He smiled down at the young blond in his arms; it was unbelievable that she was actually his. "Did you have fun at the beach, Meatball head?"
She looked up at him from where she sat on the balcony. "Yup, it was sooo fun! Did you see the way Rei blushed when Chad kissed her? Too bad she had the camera." They both laughed. He smiled even wider when he realized that Serena was his for the rest of the night. "You know Meatball Head you might want to put on some clothes if you're going to stay out here"
She blushed as she realized she was still in her bikini. She smiled once more before heading into the apartment to change. He stood up and stretched, following her back into the apartment, heading towards the kitchen. Now he knew why he had always felt incomplete: without Serena he was nothing. She made his life worth living. He turned around as he heard her enter the room. He smiled at her angelic beauty and handed her a cup of hot cocoa that he had just made.
"Thank you" she replied.
Darien looked up. Her voice sounded almost as if it was breaking, then he saw it: her eyes gave it away. "Serena what's wrong?"
She sat the cocoa down and broke down crying. "Darien promise me you won't ever leave again!"
He looked down at her worried, "Sere, you know as well as I do that I wouldn't be able to keep that promise, but I do promise, no matter what, that I will always love you."
"Really?"
He smiled deciding to prove it to her, and kissed her passionately, letting his desire take over as the two fell back onto the couch.
That had been the day before he broke up with her, and he could still see the pain written clearly across her face. He sighed yet again to himself, *Damn Dreams,* then added, no, *More Like Nightmares*.
