WikeD tEnShI : Nope, one last chapter. Now it's over. Hmm gotta get started with the next chapter of the Sequel.

GLow : Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? I didn't think it was all that sappy.

Shi no Tenshi/Megami : yup there's going to be a sequel it'll be slow in coming because finals are coming up in about four weeks but so is my birthday, I'm gonna be 17… WhooHoo, TTT comes out the day before. :: Eeh sorry about that ::

calikocat : I try for the unexpected…. My newest story, A Bed of Stars is going to be one of those too. I'll have to go hunt down that picture, I tell yah she's not bad, I was going to portray her as clinging in the beginning.

Solus Nox : I don't think that I've ever had Pocky, I live in the middle of nowheresville. I'll have to go look for it next time I go shopping. I'll go check out ya stories sometime tonight, if I don't get kicked off the computer before then.

Umm sorry I didn't get this out last night. I had to work on a story for my Engligh/History class. I had to write a fictional story about the Vietnam War. But I had to incorperate all this vocab and historical events into it and I forgot my vocab list in my locker… which sucks.

~xXx~

"I don't really blame him for saying that." Serena told Relena as she grabbed a stuffed brown teddy bear with a big red bow, off of the bed, light glistened off the black button eyes. Packing it into a baby bag she smiled at the wheat haired princess.

"Serena, I really think that you should go talk to them, they are your friends." Relena prodded as she watched Serena cock her head to the side.

"I don't know Relena, I have Mariemeia to worry about now. I know she doesn't look at all like the Commander but G-d I don't know. I don't really want to be pulled into something else that I will end up regretting. My life has been a living hell Relena, nothing about it has been peaches and cream. I don't want to pull someone else down with me just because I'm fear filled of the pain." Serena explained for what seemed the millionth time. Glancing up when the door opened she could only glare when she spotted the violet hair of Raye and Hotaru. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Serena?!" Hotaru cried out as she looked the tall blonde over. Serena seemed to have aged physical since the last time she had seen her. The blonde was starting to look older than a war hardened woman of eighteen. It had been about two years since the group had come down to Earth from L6. Serena's blonde hair hung down her back in a tight fishtail braid. Two smaller braids framed her face.

Raye noted the tired appearance that her friend carried. The Serena that they had used to known vanished, when, only Serena herself would know. The moody Serena had been replaced by a woman that now had a business look to her, she looked more mature than the moody young woman who would kill any and all that opposed her.

"What happened to you, Serena?" Raye whispered as she glanced around the room they had been shown to.

"I grew up even more." Serena told her curtly as she reached for a few black nylon duffled bags.

"Duo's blaming himself for this. He thinks he did something wrong, they all do."

"Even Yuy and Chang?" Serena snapped silently as she grabbed her gun case from under her bed.

"Yes." Came a reply that startled everyone in the room. Serena glanced up preditorial, as she became cat like in her actions. Before them in the oak door way stood Heero Yuy and Wufei Chang. Serena glared at Raye and Hotaru for the set up before standing up to her full height of 5'10".

"You should." Was the growled reply. "A three year old little girl is now fatherless. Feel guilty yet?"

"Woman, the brat still has her mother." Wufei grumbled as Serena's eyes went for a sky blue to black within seconds.

"Wrong. Her mother died in childbirth. Much like Rini. But the difference here was I looked up and admired her father." Serena told them in all seriousness. Heero slowly started to reach for his gun as the words began to register. "I'm under Cinq Kingdom protection, Yuy, as well as the child."

"You're a traitor." Wufei snarled as Serena's eyes narrowed.

"I am no longer a part of this war, 05. I've become inefficent." Serena told them with a crooked grin. "Defective."

"Serena….."

"I'm going to be leaving, so if you don't mind. I've got things to do. Places to be. Lives to hate." Serena told them as she grabbed three duffle bags, a baby bag, and her gun case. Placing the straps around her chest, she walked into a side room, reappearing she carried the sleeping three year old form of Mariemeia. With a glance around at the five in the room she turned for the door. With a low growl in Heero and Wufei's direction, she slid past the two.

All Raye and Hotaru could do was watch the silver gold braid swing around as Serena made her way quietly down the endless hall. Before Serena turned the corner she glanced back at them, the five in the hall saw her mouth something to herself before shaking her head and continuing on her path into the unknown.

~xXx~

"She's free." Hotaru whispered as she looked up at Heero, an unknown emotion played on his normally placid features. He glanced down at her and gave a weak smile before wrapping an arm around her waist and leading her in the opposite direction. Wufei and Raye followed after the two, smiling quietly to theirselves. Relena could only watch on sadly, before gathering herself together and following after them to prepair for another day of classes.

"She's what?!" Duo cried as the group met up in the school commons area. Classes had just ended for the day and Heero had told them prior that he had important information to tell them.

"She's free, isn't a dancer in this endless waltz anymore. She left this afternoon." Heero told the frantic violet eyed pilot.

"Then, Relena lied to us. Said that Serena wasn't there when she was." Duo muttered as he fell against the wall, Heero could only nod curtly. Trowa's attention filtered off of Duo for a second to see Relena making her way over to them. The quite pilot said nothing as the Cinq Kingdom princess appeared next to Quatre. "You lied."

"I did what I had to do." Relena told him as she glanced around the group, locking eyes with each and every one of them.

"Miss Relena, do you know where she went?" Quatre asked as he turned to look at Relena. Shaking his head sadly when he saw her blue eyes dim.

"Serena's wild, she can't be contained. There's a lot of unresolved issues surrounding her. She'll never be able to stay in one place long." Trowa told them as he walked off exnoring the shocked expression on Duo's face as he stared in amazement at the silent pilot's words. But the words rang true as Duo remembered everything that had happened over the two years. She was as spontanous as shooting stars at midnight.

"Why did she disappear after we brought her back from the base?" Quatre asked as Relena's eyes became stormy with emotions.

"Yet another became an orphan of war that day, Quatre." Relena told him quietly as tears dropped from her eyes like crystals.

"Wha?" Duo asked, shocked, as he looked up wide eyed.

"The Commander was killed that day, leaving his little girl without family other than Serena." Relena told him as she turned to leave. Before she left she told them one more thing. "Killing Commander Treize that way was unhonorable. He should have been allowed to fight to his death not be killed in the manner he was. Instead he died never knowing if the Small Star was even alive. And that has left Serena forever guilt ridden."

"A waltz that will never die. The music will always being playing, the melody may not always stay the same, but it is endless. Something that will forever stay with mankind until our dying breath."

Tela

~xXx~

I'm kinda sad to see it end. But of course if wished I can start on a sequel. This didn't end how I originally planned, but one chapter made all the difference and what I had original written for the ending would have been hard to work into the new plot direction without destorying it. Or made this story longer than its 38 chapters. Something that I don't think that I would have been able to do, not with school. And it would have prolonged a dry life to the story.

To all that stay with me through this all, thank you. Your reviews were always able to get me out of my bad spirits. Even if they were the simple, continue.

Review, Thanks, and Goodnight:

~*~ SilverRose82 ~*~

Finished on: 10/9/02

11/23 Yes, the story has been written for a while. And this will be old by the time you all read it. This story took on a darker tone than orininally planned, I'm not really sure what outside interferenced brought on the dark tones. Something did, I will write a sequel, possibly won't be as long as this one but everything will hopefully work out in the end. Serena may or may not end up with Duo as originally planned and voted.

The sequel to this story is called Heartless Joy.