Chapter 13

Moon and Earth

Serena stayed up all night, not catching a wink of sleep. As the bright morning filtered through the sheer right window, she lay in her bed, not really wanted to get out, but knowing she had to anyway. Today she was going to meet Darien…somewhere. She didn't really know where. He didn't know where either…they were just meeting.

With a heavy sigh, she got out of bed and grabbed her towel off the foot of her bed and took a long, shower. Her past self and the past Darien were suspiciously absent, Serena always wondered where the heck they slept and how they kept themselves as well as the other past princesses out of public eye. The beginning of the little adventure three weeks ago was something so bizarre and strange, only a really complicated author could come up with. Some imagination she…or he had (WINK). But Serena didn't dwell on her turn of thoughts much as she shut off the water and just stood in the shower, feeling the warm water drip off her limbs and feel the cold of the air conditioner through the shower curtain.

Slow, like a turtle in a pit of mud, Serena dressed and sat on her bed absently brushing her hair dry. She gave the briefest look at her clock and saw that she had ten minutes to get to the Crown Arcade where she would meet Darien. When she went down stairs, her mom and dad greeted her and she punched her brother in the arm quickly before getting out the door. The morning was so crisp and warm and it was one of those beautiful days that came only once or twice a month. She breezed past people ignoring the butterflies in her stomach as she got closer and closer to the Crown Arcade. A new beginning right?

Would a new beginning welcome her also? She saw the way her friends were looking at Darien's friends these days. The little smiles they would share and the way they touched. There was so much longing in her to feel the same thing. She hated being the only one in the group without someone special in her life. When she called Mina or someone to go shopping, they would tell her that they were busy and promised they would do something another time. She felt so depressed when she hung up the phone and knew that it was only her stubbornness that was keeping her from achieving the same thing her friends had. It was just hard, she mentally whined, to go from despising someone so much to actually wanting the same person. Destiny was something one shouldn't mess with, but here she was, she and Darien. Messing with destiny.

The day Raye came to her house and told her officially that she and Jadeite were dating Serena had made some scathing remarks about that and not really meaning them. Raye exploded of course accusing Serena of not being happy for her. But that wasn't it at all! Deep deep deep…deep down she was so jealous! That feeling was something new to her, something so totally foreign to her. I mean how could she be jealous of one of her best friends? She hated herself for that, for not taking Raye's good news the way it should have been.

Serena stopped shortly as she saw the neon sign that red Crown Arcade. In the front of the building she spotted Darien's red sports car parked neatly. The butterflies that were just fluttering in her stomach were in a full blown swarm now and her hands shook. She dashed behind the corner of the street and backed herself into the wall trying to take deep calming breaths. She was such a cowered! She could fight against destiny, but trembled at the thought of seeing Darien?

"It's a hopeless fight to begin with." A soft voice made Serena open her tightly closed eyes. Princess Serena stood to the side dressed in blue jeans and a white peasant looking shirt. It was strange, she looked exactly like the present Serena but for some reason, Princess Serena looked so out of place in present day Japan. Princess Serena looked like she felt out of place Serena thought as she observed her past self fidget in her tight clinging jeans.

"Reading my mind?" Serena asked trying to keep the scoff from her voice. Princess Serena bowed her head.

"Why are you stalling? Why are you doing this to us?" She looked up and her serene blue eyes were sparkling now with a challenge. "I take that back, why are you doing this to yourself?" The power of the last word rang loudly in Serena's head. "You think you're not worthy of him?" Princess Serena shot brutally to her. "You think you're better than destiny?" Her heated accusations made anger burn inside Serena's chest.

"It not—" Her protest was cut off when Princess Serena smacked the wall harshly. The sting from their link hit Serena's hand also and she hissed.

"Selfish." Princess Serena hissed back and took a step closer to Serena, piercing her with a sparking blue gaze. "I never knew I would be so selfish when my mother died to send me her. She could have lived if she just sent me and the scouts, but she sent Prince Darien and the guards with us so that we could find them and be able to be happy with them. What a stupid woman to sacrifice herself for something we are not even grateful for." Princess Serena's voice was so deadly clam as she spoke those words. Tears swam in Serena's eyes as she pushed her past self back.

"You don't know all that happened after they were sent to us!" Serena's chest heaved with repressed hurt and anger.

"But I do know. Darien never betrayed me. He died to save me so I could live. If anything the scouts should have been the most stubborn because the guards killed them! But where are they now? They have put aside all the horrible things that happened and started a new life together. And where are we?" She asked with a wave of her hand. "Trembling against a wall because we are scared." Princess Serena told her with a sharp finger, punctuating the remark. "Why am I lying to myself? Why am I denying myself the most precious thing in the world?" Her voice cracked and Serena wiped the tears away from her eyes. "I am selfish." Princess Serena said and looked beyond the corner to see Darien outside, looking up and down the sidewalk, and then looking at his watch. "And he was foolish to ever love me in the first place." She said quietly.

Images of one of her dreams flashed in Serena's mind. Whispered kisses and promises to always love one another.

Serena…her name blew against the wind, like she could hear his thoughts as he waited for her. She was only a couple of feet away. All she had to do is step away from the corner for him to see her. Then he would know that his wait for her was not in vain, that she kept her promise to meet him today. A wave of tears fell from her eyes and she stifled a cry.

He died for me…

Protected me…

Never betrayed me…

Never…

"Why are you here?" Serena sobbed to her past self. Princess Serena turned and crouched down in front of her because Serena had shrunk to her knees against the wall.

"To save myself from loneliness. To teach and help myself no to be so stubborn." She put a hand on Serena's head and forced her to look into her eyes. Serena could barely see her past self through the blur of her tears. "But most of all, I think I came here so I know that when I have to go back and face all that is going to happen to me on the Moon Kingdom, nothing I will have suffered would be for nothing. And nothing Darien will have to suffer will be in vain. I need him." She paused and wiped the tears from Serena's cheeks with tears of her own. "And he needs me. I forgot that, I can see it looking at my life when I am reborn. I don't ever want to forget again. Please Serena…" It hurt to hear her begging. "Please, I love him so much and I don't want to ever lose him. Please, go to him, hug him for me…Serena…" As she said those words, Serena watched her past self fade from her leaving only her words ingrained in her heart.

"Princess?" Serena whispered her hands touching the place where her past self once was. The air was warm to the touch and an even warmer feeling burned in her very soul. "Princess…" She waited for a couple of minutes before she decided to go to the arcade. Her eyes were still red and her nose to, and there was no way she was going to see him like that. And then she heard him, she heard Darien call out goodbye to Andrew and panic welled. She ran around the corner, only to be caught in a sea of pedestrians.

"Wait, wait for me!" She tried to call out to him as she made her way though the people. She saw him above the heads of a couple of school children in his horrid green jacket. Eww, what the heck did he see in that jacket? He was pulling his keys from his pocket and she managed to free herself from the crowed. All the sprinting from her running late to class paid off as she ran smack dab into his chest. He let out a shocked grunt as they both fell to the ground. She was breathing a little heavily as she lay sprawled over the top of his chest. He groaned and opened his eyes.

"Were you just going to leave me?" She demanded, lifting herself halfway off of him.

"We—well you were late! How long was I supposed to wait?" He demanded putting a hand to his head. Serena left him up and stood menacingly over him.

"I'm late all the time, what makes you think I would be early?" She said snootily, and then smiled and held out a helping hand. Darien hesitated a little, but took it and she pulled him up.

"My mistake Meatball head." He muttered, but smiled anyway. She came, he thought, doing a little happy dance inside. She came…

XOXO

FUTURE

Neo Queen Serenity and Neo King Endymion watched as the images faded before them.

"I told you not to call me that!" Serena huffed and folded her arms in a cute pout.

"It's the only thing I call you, what makes you think that'll change?" Darien shot back at her.

"It's not my name. Serena, call me Serena…" And the image faded to black and was gone like a cloud.

"I'm so glad things are okay." Neo Queen Serenity sighed.

"Yes. Things are the way they should be." Neo King Endymion murmured, rubbing the small bulge on his wife's stomach. The child kicked her little foot at his touch and his small smile turned into a huge grin.

"Sometimes, to know what is best for you, you have to face yourself in the end. That talk with my past self changed everything in my life that day." Neo Queen Serenity placed her hand over her husband's. "I'm so glad I listened."

THE END